Maine’s senate approved a bill on Wednesday, the final day of the legislative session, which will require a 72-hour waiting period for anyone seeking to purchase a firearm.
[RELATED: Maine House Approves Bill to Require 72-Hour Waiting Period on Firearm Purchases…]
The bill only passed through the use of vote pairing, a process by which absent members can have their votes recorded, and which requires knowledge and approval of the Senate President
The pairing also required the cooperation of two Democrats who claimed to oppose the bill.
In a communication with the Maine Sportsman’s Alliance (MSA), Senate President Troy Jackson allegedly denied involvement in the vote pairing or any knowledge of who orchestrated the plan.
“Yesterday evening I posted this description of the vote in the Maine Senate to pass a 72-hour waiting period to purchase a firearm. Immediately, Senator Troy Jackson called me to protest and stated he did not orchestrate and had no knowledge of who orchestrated the pairing of votes,” said The MSA on Facebook, “The President must approve any pairing of votes and all communications must be done in writing. I confirmed the President approved the communications prior to the vote and those written notes exist. He was well aware of what was happening according to the records.”
Following the statement from the Maine Sportsman’s Alliance, The Maine Wire reached out to the Senate Office and received confirmation that both vote pairings had followed proper procedure and submitted the required written memos, meaning that Sen. Jackson did have prior knowledge of the plan.
In the process of vote pairing, an absent member can agree beforehand to pair votes with a senator who is voting on the opposite side of the issue, allowing the absent member to have his vote recorded.
Both votes are recorded, but, because they will always be on opposite sides of a vote, they will effectively cancel each other out.
In this case, Sens. Joe Baldacci (D-Penobscot) and Cameron Reny (D-Lincoln), both of whom claimed to oppose the bill, agreed to have their “no” votes paired with Sens. David LaFountain (D-Kennebec) and Teresa Pierce (D-Cumberland), who supported the bill.
Sens Baldacci and Reny voted against the waiting period, but, because of their vote pairing, they also brought with them votes in support of the bill, thus allowing it to pass.
The bill passed with a final 18-17 vote, with all Republicans opposed.
Although Baldacci and Reny voted against the bill, they failed to stop it from passing, which was within their power, as they could have refused the vote pairing.
The Maine Wire reached out to Baldacci and Reny, asking why they facilitated the passage of a bill which they ostensibly opposed.
They did not immediately respond to the request for comment.
The bill, LD 2238, requires that anyone purchasing a firearm, for which they have already passed a background check, must wait 72 hours before actually receiving the weapon.
During senate proceedings, Sen. Eric Brakey (R-Androscoggin) highlighted an absurdity within the bill, which requires the waiting period for firearm purchases which require background checks, but does not require it when the purchase needs no background check.
“This legislation has an exemption for the 72-hour waiting period for purchases of firearms that are not subject to a background check,” said Sen. Brakey “If you’re saying you have to do a 72-hour wait for a purchase of a firearm when that purchase is subject to a background check, but you don’t have to wait 72 hours for the purchase of a firearm for a transaction that’s not subject to a background check, what are we incentivizing people to move towards?”
Proponents of the waiting period claim that it gives gun buyers time to rethink the decision to use the firearm to commit murder or suicide.
“The purpose of requiring a waiting period is to provide the purchaser with a cooling-off period… it’s to help to protect the purchaser from acting on a short-lived impulse,” said Sen. Margaret Rotundo (D-Androscoggin), who sponsored the bill.
Opponents have argued that anyone intending to use the gun to commit a crime would simply decide to commit that crime three days later.
They also argue that the bill harms women who seek to buy a firearm to defend themselves against a domestic abuser, and who may need immediate access to the firearm or risk being murdered.
“I cannot tell [an abuse victim] that she has to wait 72 hours to be able to defend her life, the lives of her children,” said Rep. Katerina Smith (R-Palermo). “I cannot sleep at night knowing that I had any part in removing anyone’s right to defend their own life, especially knowing that they have already passed a background check.”
The controversial bill previously passed through the house with a 74-73 vote, and now awaits a signature from Gov. Janet Mills (D-Maine).
Although Democrats were able to pass the waiting period, they were not able to achieve their full gun-control goals for the legislative session.
A bill intended to enact a “red-flag” law, which would make it far easier for the state to revoke someone’s Second Amendment rights, failed to garner enough support for a vote to be held, and did not pass before the end of the legislative session.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="27525 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=27525">14 Comments
I sound like a broken record, but Maine people are getting what they wanted by voting for it. Now your taxes are going up, you have to wait 72 hours to purchase a gun. Just go to NH, no waiting period, no sales tax. Another piece of the Maine small business economy down the drain. All owed to the DemoRats.
This obviously would not have passed without the demo-marxists enabled by the weak rinos who didnt show up for their job.(Baldacci will never have my vote again) Seems like Jackson should be termlimited out by now and just who is it that he represents, the county? Now, I believe that gun education should be mandatory in high school, that life is sacred and you have a right to defend yours. I wonder if Troy Jackson will lie about voting for other constitutional unalienable rights as well. Wake up, Armor up
How do you know when Jackson is lying?……
His lips are moving
“Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap”. Elections have consequences!! VOTE ‘EM OUT!!
This keeps up and only the criminals will have their guns. They couldn’t care less about a waiting period. Makes me wonder how many in the legislature own a gun, hunt, are sport shooters, gun collectors etc. I’d wager not many.
…lol, that will just create a wave of gun purchases before the law goes into effect. Don’t forget the ammo…you’re gonna need it!
I just purchased a 308 that is a AR platform. I first saw this particular gun in 2014 on the Veterans Today website, but could not spend the fifteen hundred dollars for it. Boy am I glad I waited ten years to cool down……
I remember back in the 50’s-60’s when high schools had gun clubs and kids brought them to school for meets etc. I wonder what’s changed.
The waiting period is stupid. It will not solve anything. This is to punish gun owners. This also does away with gun shows. No one will purchase at a gun show if you have to wait 3 days. This limits your options to purchase if you have to travel any distance to a shop.
Remember Jackson , Mills , “Winnie” Talbert-Ross and the rest of the Communists masquerading as Democrats are not opposed to gun ownership JUST opposed to YOU owning guns . Because once you no longer have them they are going to kill you. Happens every time the “Commies ” Take Over .
So explain to me the connection with this bill and Robert Card???
This is part of the coverup for cards shooting he should have been arrested right off when death threats were made now the national guard commander blames the sheriffs and blame goes down the line dumb and dumber that’s the Mainers who vote these lowlifes in office this waiting period is not new to Maine we had it before it’s an excuse for more gun control in this rural state
If I order an AK-47 online and it takes a week to ten days to get to my local FFL does that cover the 72 hr waiting period or do I pay the transfer fee, complete the fbliar background check and wait another 3 days?
Seems to me that wouldn’t cool me off at all. In fact, it may set me off.