THE BULLETIN
A MASS SHOOTING THAT LEFT 18 people dead at a bar and a bowling alley in Lewiston, Maine, on Oct. 25 is putting a spotlight on the state’s legal laxity on gun safety. Specifically, Maine doesn’t have some measures that have been shown to reduce gun deaths or homicides, such as laws that require gun permits—which some research found was associated with a 60% reduced risk of mass shootings—or universal background checks for handgun sales.
STALLED EFFORTS In recent years, efforts to enact gun-safety measures have floundered in Maine. In June, the state senate rejected a bill that would have required background checks for private gun sales, including at gun shows. Instead, the state enacted a law prohibiting people from buying guns for someone banned from owning them. Michael Rocque, an associate professor who has studied gun laws at Bates University in Lewiston, believes Maine has been slow to enact gun control in part because residents tend to see the state as safe. In 2021, Maine had a gun-death rate of 12.6 per 100,000, below the national average of 14.7, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics. Many residents have guns: as of 2016, about 45% of adults in the state were gun owners, compared with a national average of 32%, according to research from the Rand Corp.
YELLOW FLAG While other states have embraced red-flag laws making it easier to confisc
