Two shootings, two different responses — Maine restricts guns while Iowa arms teachers
Six months after a deadly mass shooting by an Army reservist, Maine lawmakers this week passed a broad package of new gun restrictions.
Three months after a deadly school shooting, Iowa lawmakers this week passed legislation that would allow trained teachers and staff to carry guns on school grounds.
Two states. Two tragedies. Two different approaches to improving public safety.
“We essentially live in two different Americas,” said Daniel Webster, a health policy professor at the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.
“We see terrible gun violence; of course no one wants them,” said Webster. “But we see this through different lenses.”
Legislatures in about two dozen states have already passed measures this year to expand gun rights or restrict access to firearms. Dozens of proposals are still under consideration. The divide continues a trend seen last year, when more than half of states passed gun legislation, with Democrats generally in favor of more limits and Republicans in favor of more freedoms for gun owners.
Maine has a tradition of hunting and gun ownership. But after an Army reservist killed 18 people and injured 13 others in Lewiston, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills called for a series of new laws aimed at preventing dangerous people from owning guns and strengthening mental health services.
Before the 2024 legislative session adjourned early Thursday, lawmakers approved measures that would impose a 72-hour waiting period on gun purchases, expand background checks on private gun sales and criminalize sales to certain banned people. They also passed a ban on devices that convert semi-automatic firearms into rapid-fire weapons like machine guns, and improved an existing law that allows judges to temporarily take guns away from people during a mental health crisis.
A gun safety coalition hailed it as an important step forward in response to voters’ concerns after the Lewiston shooting. But Republican Senator Lisa Keim criticized colleagues for “using the tragedy to advance legislation” that previously failed to pass.
In Perry, Iowa, a principal and a sixth-grade student died and several others were injured when a 17-year-old student opened fire in January.
A 2021 state law already allowed schools to allow individuals to carry firearms, although some districts have not done so due to insurance coverage concerns.
The legislation, which received final approval Monday from the Republican-led Legislature, builds on the previous law by allowing teachers and staff who undergo gun safety training to obtain a professional license to carry weapons in schools. Doing so protects them from criminal or civil liability for the use of reasonable force.
The legislation also requires large school districts to station a police officer or private security guard at each high school, unless the school board decides not to do so. Most of these school districts already have security staff.
Republican-led legislatures in Kentucky, Nebraska, South Dakota, Tennessee and Utah also passed measures this year that would increase the ability of some people to bring guns to schools. A bill passed in Wyoming allocates $480,000 to reimburse schools for the costs of training employees to carry weapons on school grounds.
Louisiana and South Carolina, led by Republican lawmakers and governors, have both passed laws allowing people to carry concealed weapons without a permit. The National Rifle Association, which supported the measures, said similar laws now exist in 29 states.
In contrast, Delaware’s Democratic-led legislature has passed legislation requiring people who want to buy a gun to first be fingerprinted, undergo training and obtain a state license.
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, signed a pair of new laws imposing restrictions. It imposes a seven-day waiting period for firearm purchases – more than double the three-day period required by the federal government for a background check.
Another new law in New Mexico bans the carrying of firearms within 100 feet of polling places, with an exception for concealed carry permit holders. According to the gun violence prevention group Giffords, restrictions on guns at voting locations now exist in about a third of states and in Washington DC.
Not all new gun policies diverge along partisan lines.
Virginia’s Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, this year vetoed 30 gun-related bills passed by the Democratic-led General Assembly that he said would have flouted constitutional rights. Still, Youngkin also signed some gun restrictions: one bans devices that convert semi-automatic pistols into automatic weapons. Another law allows charges against parents who give a child access to a firearm after being informed that the child poses a threat of violence.
While Republican Governor Mark Gordon of Wyoming signed several gun rights measures, he also vetoed legislation that would have allowed people to carry concealed weapons in public schools and government meetings. Gordon cited concerns that the bill could have overstepped the separation of powers provision in the state constitution.
And in some cases, high-profile shootings have prompted lawmakers to take no action on proposals they might otherwise have considered.
The Republican-led Missouri House was prepared to debate bills that would exempt guns and ammunition from sales taxes and allow people with concealed carry permits to carry guns on public transportation. But after the deadly shooting during the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl celebration, House Majority Leader Jon Patterson said these bills would not be brought up this year.
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Associated Press writers David Sharp in Augusta, Maine, and Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.