December 2024:
Maine Most Improved in Gun Safety Legislation on Guiffords Scorecard
2025 Gun Safety Measures Will Need to Be State Driven. You Can Advocate Even Before the Legislative Session Begins:
HELP Collect Signatures Extraordinary Progress on Citizen Path To Create A True Extreme Risk Protection Order
The Maine Gun Safety Coalition and our allies have launched the Safe Schools, Safe Communities citizen initiative to pass an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) law in Maine to protect our communities from another tragedy like the 2023 mass shooting in Lewiston. Significant progress was made colledting signatures on Election Day.
The Lewiston Commission report shows that our current “yellow flag” law is weak, ineffective, and cumbersome. We need a true Extreme Risk Protection Order system to keep Mainers safe. Get involved now.
JOIN our Show Up Network to stay informed of our work and next steps in the upcoming legislative session.
DONATE. We Can’t Do Our Work Without You.
A True Extreme Risk Protection Order is a MGSC Priority in the 2025 Legislative Session
PBS Frontline focused on the October 25th Mass Shooting, Breakdown in Maine, a production by Frontline PBS, Maine Public Radio and The Portland Press Herald. Find all six episode here. The fourth episode Breakdown; Turning Anguish Into Action examines the history and politics of guns and hunting in Maine, the state’s unique “yellow flag” gun laws and its gun lobby, which shaped state officials’ response to the Lewiston shootings.
After the program the Portland Press Herald issued a powerful editorial calling for an ERPO. “If we are to make any effort at all to prevent mass shootings, we must start by scrapping Maine’s terrifyingly unreliable yellow flag law.” Find it HERE.
The Commission Report from August 2024 on the Lewiston Shooting cites law enforcement testimony regarding Insufficiencies in the Yellow Flag Law. It states that law enforcement officials testified Maine’s Yellow Flag Law is “cumbersome, inefficient, and unduly restrictive regarding who can initiate a proceeding” to remove a firearm.
The Yellow Flag Law is insufficient because:
it limits family, who know a loved one best, from having the ability to file a petition with the court, requiring instead that a law enforcement officer take that step;
it requires a finding of a “mental illness” diagnosis instead of permitting a mental health crises to serve as grounds for a court order to remove firearms; and,
it requires too many steps before a court order may be obtained.
The need for a true Extreme Risk Protection Order is discussed by Margaret Groban, Adjunct Professor at University of Maine School of Law, retired Assistant US Attorney, and MGSC board member on August 21, 2024 and September 9, 2024.
Historic Progress on Gun Safety Measures in the 2024 Legislative Session
Background Checks: LD 2224 expands the requirements for Background Checks to advertised firearm sales and was signed by the Governor. See the Governor’s Press Release.
72 hour Waiting Period: LD 2238 requires a 72 hour waiting period to access a gun after purchase. The Governor allowed this bill to become law without her signature. Read her statement. This law becomes effective August 9, 2024. See the Advisory on its implementation issued by the Department of Public safety.
With respect to the other MGSC priorities for this past legislative session:
Bump Stocks: LD 2086 would have banned bump stocks and other rapid-fire conversion devices. The bill was approved in both the House and Senate but was vetoed by the Governor. On June 14, 2024, the US Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on bump stocks so now there is no protection from this device being bought, sold and used in Maine
A true ERPO: LD 2283, a true Extreme Risk Protections Order, was not taken up by either the House or the Senate.
Law enforcement and healthcare professionals support all four of these measures.
How did your Legislators vote on these bills? See our 2024 Legislative Scorecard. And, see our list of A+ Legislators who voted for expanded background checks, for a 72 waitng period, and for a prohibition of rapid-fire devices.
Our Community Partnership demanding gun safety legislation had a strong voice this session.
Maine Providers for Gun Safety organized and sent a strong message. Maine physicians called for meaningful change.
Maine Chapter, American Academy of Pediatrics was very active.
As was the Maine Council of Churches.
As were many others. The Partnership demanding change consisted of over 60 organizations. Please contact us if you would like to join us.
What’s New on the Federal Level
US Supreme Court Cases: June 2024
Court Overturns Prohibition on Bump Stocks
Garland v. Cargill: On June 14, 2024, the Court struck down a federal prohibition on bump stock rapid-fire devices. These devices were prohibited by the Tump administration after the massacre in Las Vegas, the deadliest mass shooting in US history. Read about the decision here.
Governor Mills vetoed the bump stock prohibition that was passed by the Maine Legislature this spring, one of MGSC’s 4 priorities. After this decision overturning the federal prohibition, bump stocks can now be bought, sold and used in Maine, under both state and federal law. 15 states and the District of Columbia prohibit bump stocks. Maine must prohibit firearm accessories whose only purpose is to make a firearm more deadly.
Maine needs to prohibit bump stocks now more than ever.
Court Upholds Prohibition on Possession of a Firearm by Those Deemed Dangerous
United States v. Rahimi: On June 21, 2024 the Court held that the Second Amendment does not guarantee an alleged domestic abuser’s right to possession of a firearm. This is the most significant Second Amendment decision since New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen in which the court upheld an individual ‘s right to carry a firearm in public for self-defense, finding that a gun regulation is only constitutional if a similar principle existed in early American history. In Rahimi however the Court appears to limit Bruen by holding that a person can be temporarily disarmed consistent with the Second Amendment if they pose a credible threat to another as determined by a court. This decision could have significant implications for the constitutionality of backgrounds checks and red flag laws. Read more about the decision here.
Executive Orders Invest in Gun Violence Prevention
On Septenber 26, 2024 the Biden-Harris Administration announced new measures and funding to prevent gun violence. They include $135 million to fund the implementation of extreme risk protection orders at the state level.