On Wednesday, May 7th, the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary will vote on several gun-related bills. NRA members and Second Amendment supporters are urged to contact committee members now and encourage them to oppose all gun control measures and support all pro-gun bills. To contact committee members NOW, click the TAKE ACTION button below.
Anti-Gun Bills
LD 677 introduced by leading gun-grabbing politician Sen. Anne Carney, creates a backdoor ban on commonly owned firearm parts by redefining a “machine gun” to include any semi-automatic firearm that includes parts that can “increase the rate of fire.” This poorly written bill attempts to sneak a so-called “rapid-fire modification ban” past Mainers in a bill completely unrelated to firearm parts. This legislation is so broad it could implicate a variety of firearm parts and aftermarket triggers. Additionally, commonly performed trigger modifications used in a wide array of legal activities, including shooting sports, hunting and self-defense could make an otherwise law-abiding individual susceptible to legal liability.
LD 1126, progressive politicians' so-called "ghost gun bill," 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.
LD 1120 and LD 1299 seek to implement "safe storage” laws aimed at implementing a top-down government mandate telling you how to store your firearms. While the NRA supports storing firearms in a responsible manner, we do not support top-down one-size-fits-all government mandates. As NRA’s safety materials explain, “Many factors must be considered when deciding where and how to store guns. A person's particular situation will be a major part of the consideration."
Pro-Gun Bills
LD 1009 seeks to create a legal process to restore the Second Amendment rights of non-violent offenders. This bill, sponsored by Rep. Chad Perkins (R- Dover-Foxcroft), establishes a process for non-violent felons to petition the State of Maine to restore their rights. This petition process allows the Maine Department of Public Safety to review these requests on a case-by-case basis and issue a judgment regarding whether or not the individual should have their rights restored.
LD 953 seeks to amend Maine's definition of a "machine gun" to match the federal definition. Currently, Maine statutes use the term "projectiles" instead of "shots," creating concerns over how firearms that can shoot certain loads, including birdshot, could be misclassified as machine guns.
LD 1062 seeks to repeal Maine's expanded background check requirement that includes the transfers of private advertised sales. This law seeks to serve as another stepping stone to the full-blown Universal Background Check scheme that Mainers voted down at the ballot box in 2016.
Please stay tuned to the NRA-ILA website and your inbox for updates as this legislation progresses.
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