AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine Governor Janet Mills on Tuesday night called for strengthening the state’s yellow flag law, boosting background checks for private gun sales and strengthening mental health crisis care, telling lawmakers there is broad support for action to prevent future tragedies. averted following the deadliest mass shooting in state history.
The Democratic governor delivered her State of the State address during a joint session of the Maine Legislature, three months after Army Reservist Robert Card killed 18 people and injured 13 others in Lewiston, the state’s second-largest city.
She wants to give police officers the ability to go directly to a judge to begin the process of removing guns from someone in a mental health crisis, addressing an issue that arose when a deputy was stymied by Card’s refusal to open the door to do for a required face-to-face meeting that is necessary under current legislation. The disaster happened just over a month later.
Mills also wants to require background checks for advertised private gun sales, increase penalties for reckless private sales to banned people and create a nationwide network of crisis centers for people in mental health emergencies.
Citing widespread support for action, Mills urged lawmakers to stop waiting and not give in to the cynical attitude that there is no point in trying to change gun laws because they will be broken.
“For the sake of the communities, individuals and families now suffering immeasurable pain, for the sake of our state, doing nothing is not an option,” the governor said in his address.
In addition to gun violence and mental health, the governor used her annual address to address extreme weather events following storms that hit Maine in recent weeks, causing millions of dollars in damage. She proposed funding for community resilience efforts and infrastructure upgrades.
She also proposed the creation of a new Violence and Injury Prevention Program, with the Maine Centers for Disease Control and Prevention serving as a clearinghouse for data from law enforcement agencies, hospitals, schools and other sources to inform policy decisions.
Her proposal for a network of crisis centers, meanwhile, would build on the first such facility already in use in Portland and a second being created in central Maine. A third center would be built in Lewiston as part of a statewide expansion overseen by the Maine Department of Health and Human Services.
The gun control proposals could face some resistance in a state known for its hunting traditions.
Maine already has a yellow flag law that differs from other states’ so-called red flag laws, allowing family members to go directly to court. The yellow flag law requires the police to initiate the process.
The proposed expansion would allow police to go directly to a judge for an order to take someone into protective custody, allowing an order to be issued for the temporary removal of weapons from someone in a mental health crisis without first having a to have a meeting to assess whether preventive detention is useful. necessary as required by current legislation.
Mills also suggested that sellers who use an advertised private gun sale — one posted on Craigslist, for example — should conduct a background check using commercially licensed companies such as LL Bean or Cabela’s, while legal standards for prosecution and punishment for other private sellers would be changed. to discourage the reckless transfer of weapons to prohibited purchasers.
“Violence is not a simple problem, nor is the cure a single, simple measure,” the governor told lawmakers. “And these proposals represent progress, and they don’t trample on anyone’s rights.”
The speech was delivered to the Maine Legislature in the second part of Mills’ annual address. Hours earlier, she published a letter to lawmakers discussing her upcoming supplemental budget and other proposals.
In her letter, Mills urged budget moderation after several years of budget surpluses as the state recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, and said she plans to set aside $100 million for the next two-year budget, when the state revenues are expected to remain at the same level. out.
“I recognize that there are many needs across the state, and I know that we have been able to say yes to many things in the past. However, this year is and must be different,” Mills wrote. “If we don’t make responsible cuts now, the Legislature will be forced to make painful cuts in the future — just as other states are having to do now.”
Still, she proposed some modest spending to address the housing crisis, the opioid epidemic, child welfare and education.
Mills cited individual income growth, low unemployment and the opening of new businesses as reasons to be optimistic about the future. She said that despite recent changes, including the shootings and storms, “our state is growing stronger every day.”
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