At packed hearing, mental health community raises concerns over aspects of Mills’ gun bill

The Judiciary Committee heard two more gun-related bills — with 12 hours of slated public testimony — that are part of a suite of legislation brought forward by Legislative Democrats who call the measures sensible and necessary to save lives. 

Sen. Peggy Rotundo (D-Androscoggin) introduced a bill that seeks to require a 72-hour waiting period between the purchase and delivery of a firearm, with exceptions for law enforcement, corrections officers and people who work as security guards. Under LD 2238, violating the waiting period would be a civil offense with a fee. 

Rotundo said she can’t bring back the 18 lives lost in the Oct. 25 Lewiston shooting, heal the wounds of the survivors or alleviate the grief of their families, but, she said, “what I can do is to do everything in my power as a legislator to put laws in place that help reduce the level of gun violence in our state.”

Rotundo also introduced the bill Gov. Janet Mills first announced in her January State of the State address that seeks to improve violence prevention, strengthen mental health services and keep weapons out of the hands of people who should not have them.

Specifically, LD 2224 seeks to strengthen Maine’s yellow flag law, which is the state’s current mechanism to temporarily confiscate firearms from someone who is deemed to be a danger to themself or others. It would also require background checks for private sales of firearms and make it easier to prosecute anyone who sells a gun to someone not allowed to have one.

The bill would also create an Injury and Violence Prevention Program at the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention to gather data about violence-related injuries and deaths to help identify patterns. 

To address mental health, the proposal would establish a statewide network of crisis receiving centers, starting in Lewiston, to help someone in crisis to receive prompt care. The model has already been proven successful in Portland, Mills said while introducing the legislation.

Doctors, retired veterans and students from Bates College in Lewiston shared statistics, tears and personal stories in their pleas to the committee to pass these bills. 

“We cannot wait for another one of our patients to die,” said Paul Cain, president of the Maine Medical Association. 

Mental health community testifies against provisions in yellow flag law

Although many medical professionals said gun violence is a public health crisis, they were cautious about equating mental illness and violence. Some even called for the removal of the mental health evaluation currently required under Maine’s yellow flag law before petitioning a judge to confiscate a person’s firearms. David Moltz with the Maine Association of Psychiatric Physicians called it “stigmatizing.” He argued that the requirement excludes people who are a threat but don’t have a mental illness.

The National Alliance on Mental Illness Maine actually spoke in opposition to LD 2238 because of its concerns about linking Second Amendment rights and someone’s mental health. And while the organization strongly supports the expansion of crisis receiving centers, it took issue with the timeline, funding and implementation plan for that piece of the bill saying it isn’t “timely enough.”

Penobscot County Sheriff Troy Morton said there was unanimous support from the Maine Sheriffs’ Association on all aspects of Mills’ bill, except for section three, which pertains to background checks. 

A handful of supportive students from Bates College spoke to the committee about their experience in lockdown while the mass shooting unfolded. One student, in her first year at Bates, said she also experienced another active shooter situation in her senior year of high school — two times in one year she had to text her parents and tell them she was safe. 

“My anxiety to give testimony pales in comparison to my fear of gun violence,” said another student, Maggie Amann.

Gun rights groups turnout for hearing

But other members of the public spoke in opposition to the bill, saying it infringes on their right to firearms as law abiding citizens and hinders their ability to keep themselves safe. Some even called it a “knee-jerk” reaction to the Lewiston shooting, claiming that none of the efforts outlined in the bills would have stopped that from happening. 

“For those of us who live in Biddeford or Portland or Sanford, having fast police response is a luxury that many Mainers in rural Maine don’t have,” said Lauren LePage, who spoke on behalf of the National Rifle Association, which organized a day of action at the State House to coincide with the hearing Thursday. 

U.S. Rep Jared Golden penned an op-ed published in the Bangor Daily News Wednesday similarly saying that a 72-hour waiting period or more background checks wouldn’t have stopped Robert Card from killing 18 people in Lewiston last October. Rather, he called for greater regulation of “the most lethal weapons on the market,” like the Ruger SFAR .308, AR-platform semi-automatic rifle Card used. 

Although Department of Public Safety Commissioner Mike Sauschuck said he doesn’t believe LD 2224 would be considered a universal background bill, some who spoke in opposition saw it that way. 

Josh Raines, vice president of the Gun Owners of Maine, argued the provision is directly opposed to what Mainers said they wanted in 2016 when they voted down a ballot referendum question about universal background checks. He said Maine has a longstanding history of private firearms sales to friends and family members, and he doesn’t see a problem with that. 

That referendum failed by fewer than 30,000, but Raines said he doesn’t think the public opinion on that has changed since then.