Maine delegation expresses some support for gun legislation after Texas school shooting

Members of Maine’s congressional delegation reacted with horror to the varsity taking pictures in Texas that left 19 kids and two adults useless. However with Congress seemingly locked in partisan gridlock over gun points, members had been unclear whether or not this newest mass taking pictures will change any of the political dynamics in Washington.

Three of Maine’s 4 members of Congress had been serving on Capitol Hill in 2013 after the Sandy Hook Elementary Faculty shootings spawned a serious push for brand spanking new gun legal guidelines. Unbiased Sen. Angus King, Republican Sen. Susan Collins and Democratic Rep. Chellie Pingree all voted or supported a bipartisan measure that may have required background checks for many gun gross sales. However the measure did not get sufficient Republican assist to get across the Senate filibuster.

Pingree, who represents Maine’s left-leaning 1st Congressional District, wish to see the Senate vote on a background checks growth that handed the Home final 12 months together with her assist. However it’s unclear that may occur, and the percentages of getting round that 60-vote threshold seem lengthy. Pingree known as it “infuriating” and “barbaric” that 9 years after Sandy Hook, such mass shootings are nonetheless occurring.

“It is simply actually a damaged system if public coverage and elected officers can’t repair this and do extra to stop this from occurring,” Pingree mentioned. However she mentioned the issue is the gun foyer — most notably the Nationwide Rifle Affiliation — blocks each proposal by portraying them as a “slippery slope.”

“I’ve a sense that if we might move one invoice and folks might get by way of that course of, construct some bipartisan alliances, then we might move the subsequent invoice and the subsequent invoice,” Pingree mentioned in an interview.

However Pingree’s colleague within the Home, 2nd District Rep. Jared Golden, was one in all only a handful of Democrats to vote in opposition to that background examine invoice final 12 months. On the time, Golden in contrast the invoice to a background checks poll initiative that failed in Maine in 2016, largely due to opposition within the extra rural 2nd District.

Golden was not out there for an interview on Wednesday. However in a press release launched by his workplace, the Democrat mentioned he will not be part of different elected officers who’re “pointing fingers and making recriminations in opposition to each other” following the Texas taking pictures.

“I gained’t be becoming a member of in that habits as I don’t consider it does something to result in any form of change, nor can it heal the ache of the households of those kids,” Golden mentioned. “Within the days forward, as extra details about this taking pictures turns into clear, I will probably be speaking with my colleagues and with my constituents about what might have been achieved to cease it and what sensible insurance policies might be thought-about to assist stop one other mindless act of violence like this from occurring once more sooner or later.”

King reiterated his assist for a so-called common background examine and shutting loopholes that enable folks to buy a firearm with out one, reminiscent of at a gun present. He additionally expressed assist for so-called “pink flag” legal guidelines that enables police to briefly confiscate firearms from individuals who have been deemed a risk to themselves or others from possessing or buying weapons. Maine has had such a legislation on the books for a couple of years.

“In my work, I attempt to discover a stability on difficult points, reminiscent of this one,” King mentioned in written feedback. “There are presently quite a few proposals which were launched in Congress to deal with gun violence, and I intend to proceed to interact my colleagues on them as I consider every of them on their potential to cut back gun violence whereas respecting the Second Modification and the rights of law-abiding gun homeowners. One of many fundamental functions of the Structure, as acknowledged within the Preamble, is ‘to insure home tranquility,’ and I consider that background checks and the opposite provisions talked about above assist us to take action with out violating the letter or the spirit of the Second Modification.”

Collins additionally expressed an curiosity in federal “pink flag” laws.

“Though we’re nonetheless ready for extra particulars, it’s onerous to consider that somebody who would do that was not severely mentally ailing,” Collins mentioned in a press release. “Congress ought to have a look at enacting a yellow flag legislation based mostly on the one we’ve got in Maine, which has due course of rights and likewise entails a medical skilled within the determination.”

Collins additionally requested FBI Director Christopher Wray concerning the concern throughout a congressional listening to on Wednesday, noting that Maine’s so-called “yellow flag” legislation requires a medical evaluation of a person earlier than their firearms might be confiscated to guard their due course of rights.

Wray replied that if extra states adopted such legal guidelines, the FBI must work to be sure that data is included within the federal background examine database. However he says such measures are per the previous saying, “Should you see one thing, say one thing.”

“However what we actually want proper now on this nation is should you see one thing about anyone, folks to say one thing,” Wray mentioned. “And in the event that they do, whether or not it by way of statutes just like the one in Maine or another mechanism, that may be fairly efficient.”

It was unclear if or when Congress might take up gun laws.