Maine’s Republican lawmakers scored a victory on Thursday by rejecting a bill that would have added a three-day waiting period on receiving a legally purchased firearm.
“Year after year, we’ve seen extreme gun control policies pushed by out-of-state organizations that seek to infringe upon the rights of law-abiding Mainers,” said Senate Republican Leader Trey Stewart (R-Aroostook) in a GOP statement Thursday.
“Today, Maine Senate Republicans stood firm and led the effort to defeat these extreme proposals,” Stewart said.
LD 60, “An Act to Require a 72-hour Waiting Period After the Sale of a Firearm,” would have mandated a delay of three days before an individual who lawfully purchased a firearm could receive it.
The bill also would have imposed a $200 to $500 fine for the first violation of the waiting period, and a $500 to $1,000 fine for subsequent violations.
The Senate killed LD 60 after an “Ought to Pass as Amended” motion failed by a vote of 11 to 24 on Thursday. That followed a Tuesday vote in the House where Republicans were able to swing enough votes from Democrats in more conservative districts.
“There is no evidence to show a causation between waiting periods and a reduction in violent crime and suicides,” the GOP Senators said in a statement Thursday. “Instead, the measure would have simply denied someone the ability to buy a firearm for urgent self-defense reasons.”
Another bill passed in the same session, LD 22, prohibits the sale or transfer of firearms to a person who is prohibited from owning or possessing a firearm.
The Republican Senators praised the bipartisan effort to pass LD 22, which they said will “actually address the issue of violent crime rather than punish law abiding gun owners.”
The bill, passed by the Senate Thursday, will make the straw purchase of a firearm a Class D crime under state law.
A straw purchase is when someone unable to pass a federal background check to purchase a firearm under their own name uses a proxy buyer who can pass the background check to purchase the firearm for them.
“As a law enforcement officer, I stand ready to address real solutions to the root causes of violent crime and suicide in Maine. However, extreme gun control proposals that only burden law-abiding Mainers do not do either,” said Sen. Matt Harrington (R-York), the Senate Republican Leader on the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.
“Today, I am pleased that the Maine Senate continued to protect our strong tradition of safe and responsible gun ownership,” Sen. Harrington said.
“There’s still more extreme legislation in the pipeline that will only affect law-abiding gun owners,” Harrington said. “I encourage reaching out to your legislator to oppose those extreme measures.”
What really needs to be understood here is that first, criminals don’t pay attention to laws. 2nd, if someone is intent on committing suicided will 72hrs really make a difference? Third, motor vehicle accidents kill more people than guns, but we don’t limit the time to buy a motor vehicle or do background checks. Anyone can purchase a motor vehicle…they have to prove they have an active driver’s license to drive it (which isn’t always the case, either) but they can purchase one. And we see all the time in the news people driving after suspension or DUI or even using a cellphone that cause accidents …so do we post regulations on motor vehicle sales? No. There are idiots out there, no law will change that. There are people who have emotional breakdowns days/weeks/months/years after they’ve purchased a gun legally. No law can prevent that. Vehicles don’t kill people, guns don’t kill people…people kill people. No laws will ever change that fact. Stuff happens.