Democratic Gov. Janet Mills on Friday signed into regulation a set of gun security laws accepted by lawmakers after the deadliest mass taking pictures in state historical past, increasing background checks for personal gross sales of weapons, bolstering the state’s “yellow flag” regulation, criminalizing the switch of weapons to prohibited individuals and increasing psychological well being disaster care.
The governor advised lawmakers throughout her State of the State deal with that doing nothing was not an choice after an Military reservist with an assault rifle killed 18 individuals and injured 13 others in Lewiston on Oct. 25.
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The payments drew opposition from Republicans who accused Democrats, who management each legislative chambers, of utilizing the tragedy to advance proposals, a few of which had been beforehand defeated. Mills stated Friday the proposals would enhance public security whereas respecting the state’s lengthy traditions of gun possession and out of doors heritage.
“This law represents important, meaningful progress, without trampling on anybody’s rights, and it will better protect public safety by implementing reasonable reforms and by significantly expanding mental health resources,” Mills stated.
Gov. Janet Mills attends an occasion, March 11, 2022, in Augusta, Maine. Mills on Friday, April 26, 2024, signed off on a set of gun security laws accepted by lawmakers after the deadliest mass taking pictures in state historical past, increasing background checks for personal gross sales of weapons, bolstering the state’s “yellow flag” regulation, criminalizing the switch of weapons to prohibited individuals and increasing psychological well being disaster care. (AP Picture/Robert F. Bukaty)
The brand new regulation signed by the governor would not require common background checks nevertheless it does require background checks for individuals who promote a gun on the market on Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace or elsewhere. Sellers could be required to conduct a background examine using commercially licensed companies like L.L. Bean or Cabela’s.
The laws contains modifications to the state’s yellow flag regulation that permits police to evaluate a person, take the individual into protecting custody for a psychological well being analysis and maintain a listening to earlier than a choose to take away weapons from somebody in a psychiatric disaster.
The brand new regulation permits police to go on to a choose for a warrant, streamlining the method. It eliminates a hurdle when a deputy was stymied by the Lewiston gunman’s refusal to reply the door for a required face-to-face assembly that’s essential beneath present regulation. Regulation enforcement members have stated in testimony in regards to the shootings that the state’s current yellow flag regulation was cumbersome and exhausting to use.
Republicans within the state stay against the invoice, particularly due to the expanded background examine proposal, stated the Maine Home of Representatives Republican chief, Rep. Billy Bob Faulkingham, on Friday.
“House Republicans have voiced ongoing support for strengthening Maine’s so-called yellow flag law and mental health services, but oppose the governor’s bill,” Faulkingham stated. “The unenforceable background check provision will only create confusion among law-abiding Mainers.”
Supporters of expanded gun management legal guidelines, who’ve advocated for the passage of the brand new requirements for months, described the approval of the principles as a victory. Twenty-two states now have a background examine regulation, stated John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Security.
Advocates additionally stated they’re hopeful different new gun measures accepted by lawmakers in Maine will quickly turn out to be regulation.
“Today is a victory for the gun violence prevention movement and a demonstration of what Mainers can accomplish to keep our communities safe when we work together,” stated Vicki Farsaci, a volunteer with the Maine chapter of Mothers Demand Motion.
The invoice signed by the governor additionally strengthens authorized requirements for prosecution and penalties to discourage different individuals from promoting weapons to prohibited patrons, making it a felony crime. The governor’s workplace stated in a press release that the brand new method “will mean that transfers of firearms to family members or trusted friends, as is common in Maine, will remain unchanged, but it will incentivize checks against the (National Instant Criminal Background Check System) for private, unadvertised sales to unknown individuals through the threat of increased risk of prosecution and prison time.”
Mills’ approvals of the gun proposals got here a day after a particular fee she convened interviewed fellow reservists of Card who raised warnings about Card’s more and more erratic conduct. Card was discovered useless of a self-inflicted gunshot wound within the aftermath of the mass taking pictures after an intensive search.
One of many fellow reservists interviewed on Thursday, Sean Hodgson, advised superiors in September: “I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting.”
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Mills additionally proposed the creation of a brand new violence and harm prevention program requiring the Maine Middle for Illness Management and Prevention to function a clearinghouse for information from regulation enforcement, hospitals, faculties and different sources to tell public coverage choices.
Her proposal for a community of disaster facilities, in the meantime, would construct upon the primary such facility already in operation in Portland and a second one which’s being created in central Maine.
