Maine Legislature approves sweeping gun safety legislation after mass shooting

lawmakers and the governor felt that they had to do something after the deadliest shooting in Maine history back in October a gunman who was an Army reservist killed 18 people and injured 13 others at a bowling alley and at a bar in a pool hall that was hosting a cornhole tournament uh the bills were really wide ranging um uh it would require background check for private gun cells it would make it a crime to recklessly transfer a weapon to someone as a prohibited person uh there were some mental health components uh there was a 72-hour waiting period and bump stocks that could turn a regular gun into a machine gun those are now banned under the legislation um Maine does not have a red flag law Maine has something called a yellow flag law and that puts police in the lead of the process police have to take someone into custody they have to arrange for mental health evaluation and then a judge has to rule before guns can be removed from someone in an emergency uh um critics say the yellow flag process is cumbersome and U um but an independent commission that would investigated the shooting said that the yellow flag law would have worked if it had been properly used gun ownership is high in Maine there's a big hunting tradition here um there's main is a safe state but there's a lot of support for uh gun owner rights and um Republicans were largely uh unified in opposition to virtually all these bills and uh they contended that uh you know that they these these bills could trample people's rights um and they also were concerned that you know Democrats were resurrecting old proposals and just trying to push them through uh using the tragedy of Lewiston And the emotions surrounding that to get these passed

Channel: Associated Press

Views: 6,423

Keywords: 4489488, 7c9aa3889e5744cda91ba99db039ce97, 8a3508734726420cb8ab5523fe1b3021, Associated Press, David Sharp, Lewiston, Maine, US ME Shooting AP Explains (CR), news

Id: cOzT7UY7qEg

Length: 1min 53sec (113 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 18 2024