State lawmakers heard hours of testimony Wednesday on a slew of gun bills, including proposed bans on large-capacity clips and rapid-fire devices.
Gun control advocates scored several major victories last year following the mass shootings in Lewiston, including an expansion of background checks to many private sales and a three-day waiting period on firearm purchases. But the waiting period law is being challenged in court and Gov. Janet Mills vetoed a bill to ban so-called "bump stocks" and other rapid-fire devices in response to concerns from Maine's powerful sportsmen's lobby.
Those advocates are back again, however, this time with a modified bill, LD 677, targeting rapid-fire modifications that allow semiautomatic guns to fire more like automatic firearms. Another bill, LD 1109, would prohibit clips or magazines holding more than 10 bullets while LD 1126 would ban so-called "ghost guns" by requiring serial numbers on any homemade or 3D printed guns.
Emergency room doctors, reverends, public health advocates testified in support of the gun control measures. Multiple high school students spoke about the emotional stress of having to routinely endure active-shooter drills and of the impacts of the Oct. 2023 mass shootings in Lewiston that left 18 dead.
Hillary Shende of Brunswick told members of the Legislature's Judiciary Committee that she worries daily about her children after sending them off to school.
"Highly lethal mass shootings are a unique stain on our country and part of the reason that they are so deadly here is because of the easy accessibility of rapid-fire modification devices and large-capacity magazines ... making it way too easy to kill scores of people, potentially my children or yours in mere minutes," she said. "No one needs these devices and a ban on them imposes no infringement on anyone's rights. You can still hunt all you want and protect your home. In fact, to be able to hunt, your weapon cannot hold more than five rounds anyway."
But opponents accused the backers of once again targeting Mainers' Second Amendment rights in ways that will only make it more difficult to defend themselves. They also said that pro-gun lawmakers fail to understand the basic functionality of many guns and pointed out that a ban on clips or magazines with more than 10 rounds would affect many of the firearms commonly sold or already owned by Maine residents.
Trish Burnell, a veteran from Denmark, urged lawmakers to "pick up a gun, fire it and know what you're talking about before telling us what we should and shouldn't be doing."
"You want to talk about what laws need to be passed? How about mental health laws?" Burnell said. "All of these mass shootings? Mental health issues."
Gov. Janet Mills vetoed a bump stock ban last year. That bill passed the House by a single vote and by just two votes during different roll calls last year in the face of unanimous opposition from Republicans and from some Democrats in rural districts.
Democrats have even tighter margins in both the House and Senate this session, likely adding to the political headwinds facing gun control measures.
Earlier Wednesday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Biden administration regulations aimed at restricting "ghost gun" kits that allow individuals to build a firearm that is nearly untraceable. The conservative court ruled 7-2 to uphold the law.
