Politics
Our political journalists are based in the Maine State House and have deep source networks across the partisan spectrum in communities all over the state. Their coverage aims to cut through major debates and probe how officials make decisions. Read more Politics coverage here.
AUGUSTA, Maine — Democrats who lead the Maine Legislature scheduled a short-notice hearing on a “red flag” referendum after gun-rights groups threatened to sue them over it.
The hearing at 3 p.m. Wednesday before the Judiciary Committee appeared late Monday on the legislative calendar. It came in the closing days of the legislative session and a week after groups including the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine said they were ready to accuse lawmakers of violating a law forcing public hearings on referendums.
Those gun-rights groups are looking to get the administration of Gov. Janet Mills on the record against the referendum after the Democrat spoke against it in her January budget address. She negotiated a 2019 “yellow flag” law that was a compromise with gun-rights groups on an earlier red flag proposal that they opposed on due process grounds.
Maine’s law lets police take people deemed dangerous into custody before they receive a mental health assessment and a court hearing to temporarily lose access to guns. A red flag law, which 21 states have, would effectively remove a step by letting families go directly to a judge for the same order.
The referendum is set for the November ballot. Lawmakers held a hearing on a voter ID bill that is also set for a vote this year, but they did not initially schedule one on the red flag bill, saying Maine law and the state Constitution were not in agreement on the need for a hearing.
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The sportsman’s alliance and the National Rifle Association were preparing a lawsuit until legislative leaders reversed themselves Monday. That followed several floor protests from Republicans.
“I’m glad the public and law enforcement will finally be given their opportunity to weigh in on this dangerous legislation,” Assistant Senate Minority Leader Matt Harrington, R-Sanford, said in a statement.
The yellow flag law has been under scrutiny since the 2023 mass shooting in Lewiston. Gun control groups have called it inadequate. But use of the yellow flag law has skyrocketed since the shooting. It has been used hundreds of times, while Massachusetts used its red flag law no more than 20 times in a single year between 2018 and 2022.
