Maine medical community backs proposed red flag law

The medical community in Maine came out in overwhelming support for a proposal that would give families a tool to keep firearms out of the hands of people who pose a risk of danger without linking it to a person’s mental health status. 

The Legislature’s Judiciary Committee held a public hearing Friday afternoon for LD 2283, which 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.

House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Portland), who sponsored the bill, explained in her testimony that the bill lays out two potential processes — a standard crisis intervention order and an emergency order. 

The emergency crisis intervention order would be used when it is clear that someone’s life is in danger. It allows a family member or law enforcement to have their petition granted within a few hours, Talbot Ross said, and lasts for up to 14 days. 

The full crisis intervention order takes a bit longer and is valid for up to one year. With those petitions, a 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, 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.

This bill comes after the Judiciary Committee advanced four other 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, the current mechanism to temporarily confiscate weapons. 

“This is an additional tool,” Talbot Ross said of her red flag proposal.

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However, Laura Whitcomb, president of Gun Owners of Maine, and others who opposed the bill argued that the measure is not only unconstitutional, but lacks due process.

Talbot Ross addressed the concern some had for the potential that false claims would be levied against a person by saying the bill requires an affidavit with facts to be submitted with the petition. Submitting a false claim would be considered a Class D crime — the highest level of misdemeanor crime.

Additionally, Talbot Ross told the Judiciary Committee she has some suggested amendments after further discussion with law enforcement, people concerned with gun safety, and other elected officials. Some of them are language changes, such as using “dangerous weapon” instead of “firearm.” An additional potential language change deals with the level of evidence, she explained, to make sure “the process is held to the highest standard.”

There were other suggested changes, including allowing the Department of Public Safety to store any relinquished weapons.

Although Talbot Ross and proponents of the bill see a red flag process as a complement to Maine’s current gun safety laws, multiple people who testified in opposition said it unnecessary given the existing yellow flag law. 

Some even referenced a report from the Independent Commission to Investigate the Facts of the Tragedy in Lewiston that says Maine’s yellow flag law should have been triggered to remove firearms from Robert Card before he killed 18 people and injured 13 more in the Oct. 25 mass shooting. When used effectively, that law can prevent tragedies like Lewiston, critics of the bill argued. 

“This bill is a solution looking for a problem in this state that we’ve already solved,” said Josh Raines, vice president of the Gun Owners of Maine.

But members of law enforcement have shared with both the Lewiston commission and the Judiciary Committee that the yellow flag law is cumbersome and time-consuming to execute, making it hard to use well. 

Regardless of whether the yellow flag law could have prevented the mass shooting in Lewiston, the mental health community has taken issue with the way that law connects mental illness to a threat of violence. 

The National Alliance on Mental Illness Maine spoke in opposition to another gun bill the committee heard in March, LD 2224, because of its concerns about linking Second Amendment rights and someone’s mental health. The organization came before the committee again on Friday to speak in favor of LD 2283.

Jeremy Cluchey, a resident of Bowdoinham whose wife serves in the Maine House, believes the red flag bill brought forward by Talobot Ross strikes the balance between ensuring public safety and upholding constitutional rights. 

Although there’s much to be said about what would or wouldn’t have prevented the mass shooting in Lewiston, Cluchey said he sees it like this: When a road washes out in a storm, it shouldn’t be rebuilt just to withstand that storm. It should be built stronger in recognition that storms are getting harsher.