Amid a push for stricter gun control legislation, Democratic lawmakers on the Maine Legislature’s Judiciary Committee had a closed-door meeting Wednesday with a top official from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), prompting indignation among Republicans and gun rights advocates over the lack of transparency.
[RELATED: Left-Wing Activists Leverage Lewiston Tragedy to Push Expansive Gun Control…]
The Wednesday informational session was held between Democrats and James Vann, the deputy assistant director of enforcement programs and services for the ATF.
An ATF representative was initially supposed to join the Judiciary Committee for a pubic meeting, though that original meeting was removed from the Committee’s schedule and was instead held privately between Democrats and the ATF official.
Sen. Anne Carney, D-Cape Elizabeth, Judiciary Committee co-chair, said that the U.S. Department of Justice — which oversees the ATF — would not allow an ATF representative to provide information to the lawmakers in public, per the Bangor Daily News.
Republican members of the Judiciary Committee chose not to attend a private briefing with Vann, citing the lack of transparency.
Rep. John Andrews, R-Paris, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said that Sen. Carney “has been abusing her authority.”
“This secret meeting with the ATF is an escalation of that. Anne Carney has destroyed the Governor’s bill and replaced it with the wish list of the DC gun control lobby. Now Bloomberg is going to spend $250k to help pass it,” Rep. Andrews wrote in a statement to the Maine Wire Thursday.
“We need normal freedom loving Mainers to stand up and send Michael Bloomberg back to NYC with his tail between his legs. AGAIN!” Andrews wrote.
Gun Owners of Maine, an all-volunteer nonprofit gun rights advocacy organization, filed an ethics complaint Thursday with the state Ethics Commission against Sen. Carney, accusing the Judiciary co-chair of violating state freedom of access laws.
“When members of the legislature behave in an unethical way, especially when their end goal is to infringe on the rights of law-abiding Maine Gun Owners, it is our responsibility to shed light on such occurrences and hold them accountable,” the gun rights group stated in a Thursday press release.
[RELATED: Gun Control Advocates Flock to Maine State House as Legislature Kicks off Second Session…]
Under Maine’s Freedom of Access Act, any meeting between three or more legislators from a committee for the business of conducting legislative business constitutes a legislative subcommittee and must be open to the public.
“We hold that the meeting was held to directly address and influence pending legislation before the Judiciary Committee, that this information should have been public, and if Mr. Vann was not willing to meet on the public record no such meeting should have occurred,” the organization stated in their complaint.
The move by Democratic lawmakers comes amid a push for stricter gun control legislation in the wake of the Oct. 25 mass shootings in Lewiston.
[RELATED: Top Maine Democrat to Hunters: Support Gun Control If You Want to Keep Hunting…]
The Independent Commission tasked by Gov. Janet Mills with investigating the circumstances surrounding the shooting released an initial interim report last week, finding that law enforcement had “sufficient probable cause” to remove the shooter Robert Card’s firearms weeks before the shooting under Maine’s current “Yellow Flag” law.
“The Commission unanimously finds that, under the circumstances known to Sgt. [Aaron] Skolfield [of the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office] on September 17, 2023, the decision to turn over the responsibility for removing Mr. Card’s firearms to Mr. Card’s family was an abdication of law enforcement’s responsibility,” the Commission’s report states.
[RELATED: Lewiston Shooter Robert Card’s Army Reserve Unit Was Filled with Cops…]
“This decision shifted what is and was a law enforcement responsibility onto civilians who have neither the legal authority to begin the Yellow Flag process nor any legal authority to seize weapons,” the report reads. “Even after delegating that responsibility to Mr. Card’s family, the SCSO failed to follow up to ensure that the firearms had been removed from Mr. Card’s custody and safely secured.”
Senate Republican Leader Trey Stewart (R-Aroostook), leading a Tuesday legislative Republicans press conference, pointed to the interim report to argue that “there is no justification at this point for these [gun control] bills that we’re seeing the Democrats put forward again — even though they already killed them — in an attempt to restrict your 2nd Amendment rights.”
[RELATED: Cases Less Severe Than Robert Card Triggered Maine’s Yellow Flag Law Firearm Restrictions…]
“Maine Constitution is very clear on that: shall never be questioned,” Sen. Stewart said. “And yet, here we are, and unfortunately some folks are using a horrific tragedy to try and justify a political agenda, and this Commission does not suggest that that is the right thing to do at this point in time.”
House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham (R-Winter Harbor) said that the interim report “give us everything we need to know,” arguing that the report confirms that Maine’s Yellow Flag law is “sufficient.”
Rep. Faulkingham quoted the following passage of the Commission’s report:
Robert Card Jr. is solely responsible for his own conduct, and he may have committed a mass shooting even if the guns he possessed in September 2023 were removed from his house. Nevertheless, there
were several opportunities that, if taken, may have changed the course of events.
“I think that one section right there pretty much summarizes the whole report,” Faulkingham said, adding that report “puts the nail in the coffin” for the several Democrat-led gun control proposals.
Gov. Mills has put forward her own slate of proposed gun control measures, including toughening the state’s Yellow Flag law by making it easier for law enforcement to remove an individual’s firearms, extending background checks to private sales, and increasing investment in mental health crisis centers.
Democrat lawmakers — including Sen. Carney — however, seem to be pushing for even stricter gun control bills, such as Carney’s proposal to prohibit bump stocks, and Sen. Peggy Rotundo’s (D-Lewiston) proposal to add a 72-hour waiting period before firearm purchases.
Nothing more needs to be said about this. Secret meetings mean the lawmakers are trying to screw the 2nd amendment rights of Mainer. They don’t want the public to hear the tricks and plans the Biden and Mills admin are about to inflict on Mainers. Should we impose a 72 hour waiting period before exercising our 1st amendment? Posting on this message board? How about a 72 hour waiting period before we can worship or celebrate our religion. A 72 hour waiting period before purchasing a firearm is unconstitutional. If a single mom has an abusive ex boyfriend and is threatened, she will now need to wait 72 hours before purchasing a gun to protect herself. The ex will know this and take advantage of this to attack her.
No justifiable reason that gun ownership is illegal while in possession of marijuana. You can own guns and have a case of whiskey if you want. You just can’t use the guns while consuming the whiskey. Seems logical. Why does having a bag of pot make owning a gun a serious crime?
Marxism
We don’t need more laws to take away our freedom. The authorities did not use the laws and tools available to them to begin with. If you don’t use the existing laws than why do we need more laws?
Raise your voices and talk to your legislators to let them know you will not stand for these attempts to infringe on your inherent rights. Now is the time.
Dems. Closed doors. Drop documents with no time to read. Dems seem corrupt.
Classic clandestine Maine Marxist legislator tactics with a little lobbyist money making in the side. Shhh, nice and cozy.
Ann Carney is a hypocrite. Did you know she’s an alum of G. Soros’ Emerge America/ Maine?
A training program that has dozens of people in elected office.
Another Mass. transplant too.
She fights to keep Cape exclusive while claiming there’s a need to bring more low income housing in.
This business is completely underhanded.
She’s once again proved herself untrustworthy.
Back ground checks do not work. Just ask Hunter Biden, who lied on the form he filled out. Anne Carney knows ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about guns. She just doesn’t approve of them, so she want to ban every one of them. Well Anne, potato chips, soda, and cigarettes aren’t good for you either because they cause heart disease and other health problems. Why don’t you get on your high horse and ban them too?
At first I wondered about the Republicans refusing to take part in the meeting but after thinking about it, it was smart and the right thing to do.
If the Republicans had taken part they would be just as ethically compromised as Carney and the others who took part.
In the meantime the atf is allowing illegals to purchase guns
And now it seems that the Biden administration with the help of Collins, King, Pingree and Golden are pushing so called Red Flag laws. Maybe that is what was discussed in the closed door meeting with the ATF, and why the progressives want this unneeded law in Maine.
Martial law is coming very soon…