On Wednesday, March 26th, the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary will hold a public hearing on LD 1126, also known as Maine's "ghost gun" bill. As expected, this Portland-backed radical gun control bill is not all that it seems and includes dangerous hidden provisions that would significantly alter Maine's gun laws. NRA members and gun rights supporters are encouraged to contact committee members NOW and urge them to oppose all anti-gun bills this session.
LD 1126, the so-called "ghost gun bill," claims to assist law enforcement by requiring serialization of all "firearms" in Maine. Beyond the obvious logical flaws of this bill, such as assuming that criminals will serialize firearms they are planning to use in a crime, this bill also includes more sinister provisions that will greatly impact law-abiding Maine gun owners.
As written, LD 1126 would implement Universal Background Checks in Maine. If passed, this bill would override Maine's current background check law that requires all advertised sales to be completed through an FFL. This is because LD 1126 lists the "Purchase a frame or receiver imprinted with a serial number without undergoing a background check pursuant to 18 United States Code, Section 922(t) or Title 15, section 395," as prohibited conduct in Maine. This means that all firearm sales (excluding unserialized pre-1968 firearms) would be required to undergo a background check in Maine.
As Mainers already know, the Universal Background Check scheme only impacts law-abiding Mainers from selling and transferring firearms to individuals they already know are not prohibited. Criminals will ignore this law and continue to obtain firearms illegally. That is why they shot down Mike Bloomberg’s million-dollar Universal Background Check scheme in 2016, and bipartisan lawmakers vote this perennial proposal down every time it comes to the floor.
Beyond fundamentally changing Maine's background check laws, LD 1126 redefines firearms under Maine law to include both finished and unfinished receivers. This definition change also explicitly requires that all finished and unfinished frames, receivers, and homemade firearms must be serialized at an FFL. This would hinder law-abiding Mainers' ability to build and repair firearms in their homes and require them to obtain expensive serialization on firearms and firearm parts. This "ghost gun" scheme does not address criminal activity in Maine. Instead, it serves a national agenda to ban homemade firearms, which have been part of our nation's history since its inception.