Gun safety groups deliver signatures to place red flag law on November ballot

On the night of Oct. 25, 2023, Arthur Barnard was at Schemengees Bar and Grille in Lewiston playing pool with his son, Artie Strout. Minutes after Barnard left, Robert Card II walked in and opened fire, killing Strout and nine others at the bar in what became the deadliest mass shooting in Maine history.
“I became part of a different family that day. One that I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” Barnard said. “I became part of the countless Americans who lost someone to gun violence.”
He was not politically active before the shooting, but since he has joined the Maine Gun Safety Coalition in pushing for common-sense gun safety laws, including one that advocates say would have been more successful in stopping Card than Maine’s current, more lenient law.
After a failed legislative attempt last year to implement a red flag law, the coalition embarked on its campaign and has now collected more than 80,000 signatures, exceeding the amount needed for a citizen initiative.
This November, Mainers will be able to vote on what is formally known as an Extreme Risk Protection Order, which if passed will make it easier to temporarily take guns away from people perceived as a threat by law enforcement or their family members. Many gun safety advocates and many throughout the state, including gun owners, have emphasized the need for such a law, according to Nacole Palmer, executive director of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition.
“There is no single policy that will end with all gun violence, but extreme risk protection orders provide a life saving tool,” Palmer said.
“This November, Mainers will have the chance to have their own say and vote on this initiative to keep our schools and our communities safe.”
On Election Day last year, the coalition and allies began collecting signatures. In one day, about 500 volunteers spread throughout 100 polling locations for the Safe Schools, Safe Communities campaign got more than 60,000 voters to sign.
By the Jan. 23 deadline, the group had collected more than 80,000 signatures, well above the 67,682 needed to get on the ballot (based on the state’s requirement of having 10% of the total votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election). After a press conference on Thursday, volunteers and activists with the campaign turned the signatures in to the Secretary of State’s Office to be validated.
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A red flag law allows family members to directly petition a judge to temporarily limit someone’s access to firearms when they are in crisis. Washington, D.C. and 21 states have red flag laws, but Maine is the only state with a “yellow flag” version, which only permits law enforcement to confiscate firearms, and requires a mental health evaluation before a judge can do the same.
The campaign formed with a goal to pursue a citizen-driven ballot initiative after a legislative proposal failed to advance to a floor vote. In March, the state commission investigating the Lewiston mass shooting issued an interim report concluding that local law enforcement had sufficient cause to utilize the state’s current “yellow flag” law and failed to do so.
Maine’s mental health community has also criticized the yellow flag law for explicitly tying gun violence to mental health, which they say stigmatizes people with a diagnosis while also ignoring the danger posed by those without a diagnosed mental illness.
The ballot initiative does not replace the existing yellow flag law, but would add the red flag law, which Palmer said would give law enforcement an additional tool to confiscate weapons when someone is deemed to be a threat, and empower families to do so as well.
Gun owners support red flag laws
Cathy Harris, a retired teacher, never imagined when she started teaching in 1985 that she would be doing active shooter drills with her students. But decades later, “what was once unfathomable has become commonplace,” she said.
“It is every parent and every teacher’s nightmare that this could happen in their school.”
As a gun owner with a husband who works in law enforcement, Harris said it’s important to support common-sense gun safety rules to keep communities and schools safe.
While collecting signatures for the ballot initiative, Palmer said gun owners almost universally agreed that Maine needs a red flag law, and some were surprised it didn’t already exist.
“Mainers understand that there isn’t a conflict between gun rights and responsibility,” she said.
That sentiment was echoed by Dr. Tony Owens, an emergency medicine physician at Maine Medical Center and longtime gun owner. Owens shared his experience having to take his father’s pistol away when he was concerned about his worsening depression and dementia after his mother’s death.
“These extreme risk protection orders help save lives and prevent moments of crisis from becoming a tragedy,” he said.
“As a responsible gun owner, and someone who has seen the devastating impact of gun violence, both in my professional and personal life, I believe it’s time to take this step forward by passing this initiative.”
This story has been updated.
