When the state Legislature convened last January, there was one overriding priority: to prevent, if possible, a repetition of the horrendous events of last Oct. 25, when 18 Maine citizens were massacred by a disturbed gunman at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston.
There was some progress toward containing gun violence.
A 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases was enacted without the governor’s signature. It should be helpful, as it has been in other states, in reducing deaths by suicide, which are often impulsive acts.
The administration sponsored tightening of gun sale regulations, and tweaked the “yellow flag” law passed in 2019. That law, little used before Oct. 25, afterward saw a dramatic increase in individuals taken into protective custody by police pending a mental health evaluation.
But the most obvious need, a “red flag” law allowing families as well as police to petition for gun removal, fell by the wayside. It’s important to recall how that happened.
In 2018, after the Parkland, Florida, high school killings of 17 students and teachers, then-state Sen. Mark Dion (D-Portland) introduced a red flag bill that attracted broad support, including a 31-3 Senate roll call.
It was supported by then-Attorney General Janet Mills but ultimately vetoed by former Gov. Paul LePage, overridden in the Senate but sustained by the House.
The following year, Mills, now governor, changed course and worked with gun rights groups to craft a “yellow flag” alternative to the red flag laws already adopted in 21 other states.
Crucially, red flag laws authorize family members to initiate proceedings when they believe someone they know well may be intending violence.
That was crystal clear with Robert Card, whose family sought but didn’t receive help long before he went on his murderous rampage.
Yes, the investigating commission concluded police failed in their duties by not persisting with a “wellness check” when Card wouldn’t answer the door. And the Army also failed when it neglected to notify state officials after Card, a reservist, was hospitalized for acute psychological episodes, then released.
Card could have been deterred much earlier, however, had a red flag law been in place.
Gun rights groups accept the yellow flag, but not red flag concept. It’s hard to understand why.
Under red flag principles, a judge can order gun removal after a hearing and without a full adversarial proceeding. It’s temporary, though; if the seizure isn’t justified, the individual can get the firearms back.
Under yellow flag rules, the person involved is locked up, losing their freedom for as long as it takes for evaluation and legal proceedings to conclude. Which version is actually more coercive?
Gun rights advocates adopted the peculiar position that it’s a greater infringement of personal liberty to remove a gun than to lock up a person. It’s hard to believe those subject to these contrasting procedures would agree.
That logic prevailed at the State House, however. Democratic leaders didn’t even introduce a bill initially and when, after dissent from their own caucus they finally did, it was too late to even bring the measure to the floor.
Now, voters will have the opportunity to rectify the failure of lawmakers and the governor to address a pressing public need. After Parkland but before Lewiston, many thought “it can’t happen here” but they were wrong.
The Maine Gun Safety Coalition last week announced a signature-gathering effort to put a referendum question on the ballot in 2025, and should have no difficulty succeeding.
Some recent referendum questions have had constitutional and legal problems both before and after enactment, but a red flag law is exactly the kind of measure for which the initiative-and-referendum system was devised more than a century ago.
When lawmakers fail in their duty, the people can act to enact legislation.
There will be predictions that Maine, reputedly a “pro-gun” state, will balk at restricting firearms, citing an unsuccessful 2016 referendum to expand background checks for purchases.
That measure was criticized for being overly broad by including transactions among family members. The governor’s enacted legislation this year created exceptions.
In any case, the red flag issue is different. Mainers, and Americans, disagree on many aspects of fatalities caused by firearms, but there’s a strong consensus about keeping guns out of the hands of those who demonstrably shouldn’t have them.
After Lewiston, there can be no doubt a red flag law would better protect public safety, and above all ease justifiable fears of parents, students and teachers each day at school – or any public place.
On an “off-off” year election ballot the proposal will receive plenty of attention – and the result should be definitive.
Douglas Rooks has been a Maine editor, columnist and reporter for 40 years. He is the author of four books, most recently a biography of U.S. Chief Justice Melville Fuller, and welcomes comment at drooks@tds.net .
This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Rooks: Maine referendum allows people to decide ‘Red Flag’ issue
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