Dunlap and LePage try to outgun each other over support for Second Amendment

When it comes to gun rights in Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, the key difference between the nominees is that the National Rifle Association has only endorsed one: Republican Paul LePage. 

And while Democrat Matt Dunlap doesn’t stand far from LePage on the importance of the Second Amendment, their approaches to campaigning on the issue are very different. As LePage moves to make it a central pillar of his platform, Dunlap more often highlights his time as a sportsman and segways to other issues. 

LePage held a press conference Thursday at Maine Military Supply in Holden, where the NRA’s political arm announced its endorsement of the former governor in the race to replace Democratic U.S. Rep. Jared Golden. 

“It’s so, so important that as your governor in the state of Maine, I fought for the Second Amendment,” LePage said, of the constitutional right to bear arms. “The Second Amendment is freedom. It’s all about our ability to move around and have some safety.”

LePage also touted his record opposing gun safety measures during his two terms in the Blaine House.

That same day, Dunlap’s campaign reshared a video — originally posted on X last month — where the current state auditor and former executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine,  highlighted his lifelong history as an outdoorsman before shooting a clay target out of the air with a 16-gauge shotgun. 

“You’re going to see me, not just every other year at a shooting range trying to prove to you that I understand our outdoor heritage,” Dunlap said, seemingly taking a dig at LePage’s location choices for press conferences. “It’s in my bones, I feel it.”

I’d beat this Floridian in a skeet shooting contest any day of the week. pic.twitter.com/2XJPm52VT8 https://t.co/Yx1EQ1Oehk

— Matt Dunlap (@dunlap4congress) August 6, 2026

The 2nd District and guns

Both candidates’ emphasis on gun rights seems to be a clear strategy to win over voters in the rural district, despite that the majority of the 2nd District backed last year’s red flag referendum, with just over 120,000 votes in support and 104,000 against. 

Nacole Palmer, executive director of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, said in a statement that the referendum’s support in the district shows that Mainers believe in common-sense gun laws.

“The idea that gun safety is unpopular in this district is outdated and untrue, and we proved it,” Palmer said. “We invite either candidate to meet with us to learn more if they want to ensure their positions align with the views of their voters on this issue and earn our endorsement.”

In the Democratic primary, the coalition endorsed Jordan Wood over Dunlap. The organization has since announced endorsements for the general election — including Democrats Hannah Pingree for governor, Troy Jackson for U.S. Senate and Chellie Pingree for the 1st Congressional District — but notably has not endorsed in the 2nd District. 

It’s one way that the race stands apart from the other statewide and federal races in Maine, where Democrats and Republicans are much less aligned on gun policy. It’s also a reflection of Maine’s historically unique position as a relatively liberal state with lax gun laws. 

In 2019, Maine passed its signature gun safety measure, the so-called yellow flag law, which allows police to temporarily confiscate firearms from someone who is deemed to be a danger to themself or others. 

But the 2023 mass shooting in Lewiston changed the landscape in Maine, and the 2nd District specifically. The independent commission charged with investigating the facts of the tragedy ultimately concluded that both local law enforcement and the U.S. Army Reserve failed to take sufficient action to deter Robert Card II from killing 18 people and injuring 13 others.

The commission found that the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office had sufficient probable cause under Maine’s yellow flag law to take Card into custody and start the process to confiscate his firearms — but did not. 

That shifted the conversation for many political leaders, including Golden, who previously voted against bills to enhance background checks and other gun control measures, earning him one of the highest NRA grades among Democrats during the 2022 election cycle. 

But days after the Lewiston shootings, Golden announced his support for an assault weapons ban, and said he was wrong to have opposed the policy in the past. 

“The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure, which is why I now call on the United States Congress to ban assault rifles like the one used by the sick perpetrator of this mass killing,” Golden said at the time. 

There were concerns that it could endanger him in his 2024 reelection bid, but he narrowly won another term, and was poised to run again this year before he ultimately dropped out in November. 

But David Trahan, executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine Institute for Legislative Action, said that gun rights are still a top issue for many voters in the 2nd District.

Trahan, who led the opposition to the red flag referendum, said that other recent gun control measures have sparked some backlash — like the 72-hour waiting period. 

“When you’re two and a half hours from Old Town Trading Post — because you’ve got to travel a long ways if you’re a guide up in northern Maine — and one of your clients needs to replace their firearm for some reason, it completely disrupts their hunt to have to wait 72 hours,” Trahan said. 

Trahan said he’s seen the issue of gun rights and gun control get more and more partisan, even in Maine. 

“I don’t think it’s because Mainers want it to happen this way, but I think national politics and the amount of money nationally has finally corrupted the entire system,” he said. 

Trahan said he’s worked with both Dunlap and LePage in Augusta. 

While in the state Legislature, Dunlap was the chair of the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee, and Trahan said Dunlap was consistently strong on outdoor and firearm protections. 

And as governor, LePage was a “backstop” on Second Amendment issues, Trahan said. 

But the partisan nature of the issue will follow both candidates on the campaign trail. 

“For LePage, that makes it easy when your party is so strong on the Second Amendment,” Trahan said. “But for Matt Dunlap, it makes it far more difficult. I believe he’ll be strong on the Second Amendment, but I think, like Jared Golden, he’ll get beat up by his party.” 

Similar positions on both sides 

John Commerford, chair of the NRA Political Victory Fund, said Thursday that LePage has a strong record of opposing gun control measures. 

“And we need leaders in Congress who know what the Second Amendment is about and respect it,” he said. “They respect our true constitutional freedoms.”

LePage has held few media events and speeches so far in this race, and declined to speak directly with the Portland Press Herald last month for a Q&A on the race. But Thursday he made it clear that gun rights are a central issue of his campaign, and said the NRA endorsement is one of the most important endorsements he expects to receive.

LePage thanked the NRA for advocating for firearms, criticizing Democratic lawmakers for “putting out some silly laws every time we have a disaster,” like Maine’s red flag law, adding that “law enforcement is telling us it’s not a good idea, it’s not a good law, and but no one listens.”

“So we need to be vigilant, we need to have our guns,” he said. “I know this sounds crazy, but every year that Obama was president I bought a gun, I bought another gun, and I’m one that has a lot of guns. They’ve never been out of their kits.” 

Both LePage and Commerford highlighted actions taken during his two terms as governor.

While in office, LePage vetoed several gun control bills, including a red flag proposal and a background check expansion. He also supported a 2018 measure that allowed Maine residents over 21 to carry concealed weapons without a permit. 

Commerford also emphasized that gun rights are about safety.  

“The Second Amendment is about that two a.m. glass break and providing for security of yourself, your family,” Commerford said. “It’s your personal safety. It’s your responsibility first. It’s about providing a hard check on our freedoms and restoring those.”

Two March reports from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics found that crime continued to fall in 2024, according to crime data, which often lags months or years behind. 

The Bureau’s “Crime Known to Law Enforcement, 2024” report found that Maine’s rate of violent offense was significantly lower than the national average and had the lowest violent offense rate of any state that met the report’s statistical criteria. 

And preliminary data from the FBI in May reported that violent crime nationwide fell sharply in 2025. 

LePage acknowledged that Maine is “still a very safe, safe state” but said in the rural 2nd District, it can often take a long time for law enforcement to arrive, and in that window, access to guns is crucial.

But a May report from the nonprofit think tank Council on Criminal Justice found that Americans’ views on crime often don’t match reality, and those perceptions are instead shaped by personal experiences and economic conditions. 

The report draws on decades of Gallup survey data to examine how people perceive crime and what drives those beliefs, and found that even during periods when crime declined, people continued to believe it was rising. 

Dunlap has similarly said he is a longtime supporter of the Second Amendment and, if elected, would work to protect those rights in Congress. 

“It’s not surprising that a partisan group like the NRA endorsed a partisan like Paul LePage,” Dunlap campaign spokesperson Harry Burke said. “If Paul LePage ever wants to join Matt for a skeetshooting contest, we’d be happy to see who’s a better shot.”

And while Dunlap doesn’t seem to differ from LePage on the issue, he is quick to pivot to other issues. 

When asked about gun policy at a May primary debate, Dunlap said that most people in the 2nd District own guns and use them responsibly before turning to other reasons for violence.

“The guns haven’t changed, and they haven’t gotten easier to get, but we need to look at it’s causing people to snap and take something that was unthinkable and now it’s become almost inevitable,” Dunlap said. “We need to get to the origins of violence, and that’s going to take some work and some study.”

Even in that same short video reshared Thursday, Dunlap doesn’t dwell long on gun policy. 

“But also this fall we have a lot of other things to worry about — the cost of healthcare is skyrocketing, heating oil is almost doubled and we’re coming into another heating season soon,” Dunlap said. “And we have a Congress that doesn’t seem to think that is a very big deal. And that’s why I’m running for Congress, because I think we can do better than that.”