Maine
National gun safety advocates credit Maine for post-Lewiston reforms
A national gun safety advocacy group has upgraded its rating of Maine laws following a historic legislative session in which lawmakers passed expanded background checks and a 72-hour waiting period on gun purchases in the wake of the Lewiston mass shooting.
Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence released its annual gun law scorecard for states around the country on Tuesday. The center gave Maine a C+, which is an improvement from last year’s D- rating and made Maine the most improved state.
“Following the tragic mass shooting at a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston, Maine enacted important improvements to its gun laws,” the scorecard said. “However, there are still basic gun safety measures which are missing, putting Mainers at grave risk.”
Following the mass shooting that left 18 people dead and 13 others injured last year, lawmakers expanded background check requirements to include private, advertised sales and implemented a new 72-hour waiting period on gun purchases.
They also updated the state’s yellow flag law to make it easier for police to take someone into protective custody in a step toward restricting their access to weapons, and set aside millions of dollars for mental health and violence prevention programs.
The budget passed by lawmakers and signed by Gov. Janet Mills in April included funding for establishing an Office of Violence Prevention at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, an expansion of crisis receiving centers to help people experiencing mental health or substance use crisis and additional money for the mental health assessments that are part of the yellow flag law, among other things.
Still, the state still lacks fully universal background checks for gun purchases and a red flag law that would give family members, in addition to law enforcement, a path toward restricting access to weapons for a person in crisis without a mental health evaluation.
“Additionally, Maine passed a reckless permit-less carry law in 2015 that allows residents to carry loaded, concealed handguns in public without a permit or background check,” the scorecard said.
Gun safety was a major topic of this year’s Legislation as lawmakers were met with public demands for action in the wake of the Lewiston shooting. While it remains to be seen what initiatives will be taken up in the coming year, the Maine Gun Safety Coalition is trying to get a citizen’s initiative for a red flag law before voters, and said last month that it was close to getting the necessary number of signatures needed.
This story will be updated.