Hundreds showed up at the State House in Augusta on Monday to weigh in on legislation that supporters say is crafted to curb gun violence in Maine.
The measure would set up a process under which a person deemed dangerous to themselves or to others could be ordered to temporarily surrender their weapons. But some critics testified that the bill fails to strike a balance between competing provisions in the U.S. Constitution.
The proposal sounds simple enough. And its sponsor, Democratic state Sen. Rebecca Millett of South Portland, says it has bipartisan support in the 15 states that have passed similar legislation.
“They allow law enforcement and family members to petition a court to temporarily prohibit possession of a person’s firearms and hold any existing firearms for safekeeping if there is probable cause to believe a person poses an immediate and present danger to themselves or someone else,” she says.
But some lawmakers say the measure could raise constitutional questions, and point to potential conflicts.
“What I perceive to be a collision between the Second Amendment, the Sixth Amendment and the 14th Amendment. And specifically, in the Sixth Amendment, that a person has a right to confronted by the witnesses against him,” says state Rep. Jeff Evangelos, an independent from Friendship who serves on the Judiciary Committee that is considering the bill.
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution protects the right to due process, and the Second to keep and bear arms.
Franklin County Sheriff Scott Nichols is among those among those who take issue with the fact that a person’s firearms could be taken away, even temporarily, after a judge has heard only from one side.
“In essence, this LD requires a search warrant to be issued through the courts on the word of the petitioner, and then law enforcement has to remove the personal property of the respondent using a civil approach without an underlying crime, because that respondent may commit a crime in the future,” he says.
While many speakers addressed the difficult constitutional balancing act created by the bill, others gave emotional testimony about family members or friends lost to suicide.
Dr. Tony Owens of Cape Elizabeth says he believes he prevented his father from taking his own life by taking away his handgun over his father’s objection.
“I wasn’t able to do that for my brother in law as he took his life with a single pistol shot 20 years ago almost to this day, leaving my sister a widow and his two daughters without a dad,” he says.
But Dr. Arthur Dingley from Farmington says the proposed law will not address the real forces that contribute to gun violence in Maine.
“This law is a distraction, it is a shiny object which diverts our attention from the true mission. And the true mission is to address the root causes of despair and violence,” he says.
Last year, Maine lawmakers passed a similar measure that then-Attorney General Janet Mills helped to draft, but it was vetoed by then-Gov. Paul LePage. Mills has not taken a position on this bill, which includes some significant changes.
