Republican lawmakers want to repeal Maine's 72-hour waiting period on firearms purchases

Yahoo

16-04-2025

Apr. 16—AUGUSTA — Gun rights supporters urged Maine lawmakers Wednesday to roll back some of the safety measures put in place last year in the wake of the Lewiston mass shooting.
House Minority Leader Billy Bob Faulkingham, R-Winter Harbor, has submitted one of two bills to repeal the 72-hour waiting period on firearm sales. Rep. Jennifer Poirier, R-Skowhegan, has proposed eliminating mandatory background checks for private sales.
The waiting period and a law expanding background check requirements to include private, advertised sales were passed by the previous Legislature after a gunman killed 18 people in October 2023.
Faulkingham said Wednesday the waiting period law was the result of government overreach. "This requirement may have been well-intentioned, but ultimately it is unnecessary, burdensome and of questionable constitutionality," Faulkingham said.
Gun rights advocates also sued the state in November to overturn the waiting period law. The outcome of the lawsuit is pending, but a federal judge ruled in February to pause implementation of the law while the case works its way through the court system.
Faulkingham pointed to Chief U.S. District Judge Lance Walker's injunction, which has been continued pending a decision by a federal appeals court, in making his case for LD 208 to members of the Judiciary Committee Wednesday.
"This is a strong signal the courts believe this law will ultimately be found unconstitutional and if that is the case, it makes little sense for us to keep it on the books," Faulkingham said.
Gun safety advocates, however, have said that 72-hour waiting periods are useful in preventing suicides by giving people a "cooling off" period before they're able to access a gun — an argument that resurfaced during Wednesday's public hearing.
"It allows ... time for the suicidal person to have second thoughts and to change their mind before acting," said David Moltz, a physician and psychiatrist who testified on behalf of the Maine Association of Psychiatric Physicians. "They still get to have their gun; they just have to wait a few days to get it. But those few days may mean the difference between life and death."
Lawmakers only narrowly passed the 72-hour waiting period last year, with the House of Representatives voting 73-70 and the Senate voting 18-17. Gov. Janet Mills allowed the bill to become law without her signature, saying at the time that she was deeply conflicted over the bill and that similar laws were being challenged in other states, including Vermont. The Vermont lawsuit still has not been resolved.
Rep. Quentin Chapman, R-Auburn, has proposed a second bill, LD 1230, identical to Faulkingham's, that would also eliminate the waiting period. Both bills have several Republican co-sponsors.
Supporters of gun rights argued Wednesday that the new law, which was in effect for a few months before being paused by the court, hurt business at gun shops and has made it harder for people to be able to defend themselves.
Andee Reardon, a Maine representative of the group Women for Gun Rights, told the committee that she lives just minutes away from where the Lewiston shooting took place and that she was overwhelmed hearing from women who felt unsafe in the aftermath as it took police two days to locate the shooter.
"For those people, that 72-hour wait period is much too long," Reardon said. "If we have another tragedy in our state people are going to want to arm themselves, because the police are busy."
Nacole Palmer, executive director of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, which pushed for the reforms last year, testified against both 72-hour bills as well as a proposal from Rep. Jennifer Poirier, R-Skowhegan, to eliminate requirements for background checks on private gun sales. "These policies are two of the most basic tools in our toolbox to reduce crime and save lives," Palmer said.
IMPROVING STORAGE
Lawmakers also heard proposals Wednesday for improving the safe storage of firearms. LD 1120 would strengthen the criminal penalties associated with negligent storage of firearms and would require dealers to post public notices in areas where sales occur warning of the risks associated with having firearms at home.
Another pair of bills, LD 1174 and LD 1104, would facilitate firearms hold agreements through which people could temporarily store their firearms with a gun shop. Rep. Vicki Doudera, D-Camden, the sponsor of LD 1104, said such arrangements would be useful in a variety of scenarios, including during the sale of a home, when children are visiting or during a tumultuous time such as a divorce.
Doudera suggested the committee could combine her bill with LD 1174, from Rep. Stephen Wood, R-Greene, because she said the language in Greene's bill is stronger. She suggested also expanding Greene's bill, which would only provide the option for firearms owners who are veterans or emergency responders.
Greene said gun shops are currently not allowed to offer such a service. He said it would be a valuable tool for helping people who are more likely to experience a mental health crisis, but expressed concerns about opening up hold agreements for broader groups of people, saying it could overwhelm firearms dealers with needs for storage.
"If it's just military and first responders, it would be fewer people and they could make the room for them," Greene said.
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