Legislature to consider last-ditch red flag law five months after Maine’s deadliest mass shooting

With a handful of other gun-related bills advancing through the Maine Legislature, House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland) introduced an eleventh-hour proposal that would give families a tool to keep firearms out of the hands of people who pose a risk of danger. 

LD 2283, which was printed on Wednesday, would allow family, a household member or law enforcement to file a petition to restrict a person from purchasing or possessing firearms if they are suspected of posing a “significant danger of causing severe harm” to themself or others. The process is often described as an Extreme Risk Protection Order, also commonly known as a “red flag law.”

Twenty-one states currently have such laws in place.

Maine already has a so-called “yellow flag law” as a means for temporarily removing weapons from a person who poses a risk. Although the yellow flag law was never utilized against Robert Card, the perpetrator of the state’s deadliest mass shooting, an independent commission recently found that it should have been. But law enforcement have repeatedly described the yellow flag law as cumbersome in testimony to that commission and the Legislature. 

Slate of gun safety bills introduced after Lewiston shooting advance to full Legislature

Leading up to the October 25 shooting in Lewiston, Card’s family reached out to law enforcement about their concerns for his mental health. Other members in the U.S. Army Reserve unit Card served in were also concerned for his mental health and potential for danger. 

As outlined in the bill, the district court would need to hold a hearing within two weeks of receiving the petition. If the court finds the person does in fact pose a risk of danger, they must prohibit the person from purchasing or possessing firearms for up to one year. That person would be required to immediately surrender any guns they have to law enforcement or a federally licensed firearm dealer.

Someone could request to terminate the prohibition against them if they can prove they no longer pose a risk of danger.

“We’re grateful to our lawmakers for introducing this bill to establish temporary crisis intervention orders today,” said Kathleen McFadden, a volunteer with the Maine chapter of Moms Demand Action. “This bill could give communities across our state access to a lifesaving tool that can prevent tragedies like the one we saw in Lewiston.”

Republican leaders in the House and Senate unsuccessfully attempted to postpone and table the bill before it was sent to the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee. 

In the past week, the Judiciary Committee has advanced four gun safety bills including one that imposes a 72-hour waiting period after the purchase of a firearm and a proposal from Gov. Janet Mills that would strengthen Maine’s yellow flag law.