Maine Senate Passes 72-Hour Firearm Purchase Waiting Period Through Vote Pairing As Troy Jackson Denies Involvement

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.

[RELATED: “Red-Flag” Law Fails to Receive a Vote in the Legislature Despite Support From Soros Funded Cumberland DA…]

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.