Democratic lawmakers in Augusta are plowing forward Friday with an attempt to impose a so-called “Red Flag” gun control bill, even has hundreds of thousands of Mainers remain without power and unable to participate in the public hearing.
The bill — LD 2283 — was sponsored by House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross on March 24; however, the public was only made aware that the controversial gun control bill would have a public hearing late Thursday night.
[RELATED: Maine Democrats Sneak in Last-Minute Gun Grab Measure…]
The announcement came as hundreds of thousands of Mainers remained without electricity following a major spring snow storm.
The proposal, officially entitled, “An Act to Enact the Crisis Intervention Order Act to Protect the Safety of the Public,” would grant new powers to government officials to seize firearms from Maine residents.
[RELATED: Troy Jackson Backs Gun Control After Gun Control Group Hires His Son’s Firm…]
If passed, the bill would allow family members, law enforcement agencies, or local police officers to file a petition for a “crisis intervention order” against someone who, they believe, presented a significant danger to themselves or the public.
According to the bill, the Maine State Police, a county sheriff’s office, a municipal police department, and even the Maine Attorney General would be empowered to enforce the crisis intervention orders.
Before any intervention order could be enforced, the petition would first require the approval of a District Court Judge. If approved, the subject of the order could be prevented to buying or possessing a firearm for up to one year.
An approved order would require the individual to voluntarily surrender their firearms to a law enforcement agency or a federally licensed firearms dealer.
Respondents are required to surrender any firearms in their possession, custody, or control immediately upon service of the order, with specific procedures outlined for the collection, cataloging, and storage of such firearms.
Violation of an order is classified as a Class D crime, with additional penalties for submitting false information or failing to comply with the order’s terms regarding firearm relinquishment.
[RELATED: Top Maine Democrat to Hunters: Support Gun Control If You Want to Keep Hunting…]
The legislation lists several criteria which could be used as the basis for abrogating an individuals Second Amendment rights, including attempts or threats to inflict harm on oneself or others, placing another person in reasonable fear of physical harm, or demonstrating a danger to another party.
The surprise move to hold a public hearing on the “Red Flag” bill comes as other attempts by Democratic lawmakers to secure passage of more extreme gun control bills have faltered.
[RELATED: Maine Dems Hold Closed-Door Meeting with ATF Official Amid Push for Stricter Gun Control Measures…]
One of those bills, Rep. Rebecca Millett’s (D-Cape Elizabeth) LD 1619, would have given victims of gun violence the ability to sue gun manufacturers civilly for “damages arising from the sale of abnormally dangerous firearms.”
At the hearing for the bill last year, however, Millett was unable to explain what exactly an “abnormally dangerous” firearm is.
The bill was carried over into the current legislative session, but it appears unlikely to move forward prior to the legislature’s April 17 statutory adjournment date.
Maine already has a so-called “Yellow Flag” law which allows for law enforcement to remove firearms from individuals in cases where a mental health professional has certified that an individual is dangerous.
Although pro-gun control Democrats have frequently invoked the Oct. 25 mass shooting in Lewiston as the pretext for advancing new gun control measures, the Independent Commission formed by Gov. Janet Mills (D) to investigate the shooting found that Maine’s existing laws could have been used to remove weapons from the shooter, Robert R. Card, Jr., if law enforcement had properly used them.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="27209 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=27209">10 Comments
If you’re interested to see the Gun Owners of Maine response, follow the link below. Regardless, the public hearing should have been rescheduled for days out. NOT just three hours later!
https://gunownersofmaine.org/news/13339389
What a reprobate!
This is what the people of Maine are allowing and pretty soon it will be too late to stop these Marxist zealots. What is it going to take to stop them? That means voting them out, oh that’s right Mainers gave away their vote with the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Well done!! So, Mainers just letting the Marxist run rampant should come as zero surprise to anyone.
Gun Owners of Maine provided the best testimony out of anyone at the hearing today. Great job. It must be exhausting for pro 2nd Amendment advocates to constantly fight against those in Augusta who wish to disarm us. We appreciate you showing up during a power outage and being our voice at the table. We appreciate you!
If the Dems can’t cheat they can’t beat
law abiding citizens again will pay the price for those in power who do not know how to do their jobs.
Watch out for that sneaky Ross. She’s up to no good.
It’s just little people without power — The Dems don’t care because their Chinese bosses have backup generators for their grow houses
There is no intent to make things better for the people of Maine, they are only working for the democrat party and their bosses. Which is all these big money developers like wind and solar, the kickbacks finance their elections! Until enough citizen get tired of being railroaded nothing will change because these4 marxists don’t give a damn about hard working citizens!
They want low turnout so they can approve anything with little or no opposition.
Think last week, they had a suddenly announced vote to put Maine into the 270 electoral votes club (all electors go to national pop vote winner no matter how Mainers vote). And that was a very thin partisan vote with members missing.
communists are running things now. bolshevik tactics.