AUGUSTA, Maine — The Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee will hear testimony Wednesday on a bill that would guarantee the rights of tenants in publicly subsidized housing to have guns.

The bill — LD 1572 — is pitting the rights of people to bear arms against the rights of property owners, according to opponents. The measure was introduced in response to a Rockland apartment dweller who was told by his landlord after shooting an alleged burglar that his lease did not allow him to have a gun on the premises.

The public hearing on the bill is scheduled for 2 p.m. Wednesday in Room 436 of the State House.

“I do not believe this bill should be about violating the rights of landlords but more so about the fundamental rights of individuals to have the safety, security and peace of mind that all Americans desire in their home, be it owned or rented,” state Sen. Andre Cushing said Monday.

Cushing, a Republican from Newport and the assistant majority leader for the upper chamber, said the bill he introduced is directed only at the owners of apartments who accept government subsidies for their tenants.

He said that unlike many individuals, subsidized housing tenants have limited choices for where they can live. He said if criminals know a housing complex prohibits guns, they will have less reservation about targeting those tenants.

The measure was prompted by Harvey Lembo, a 67-year-old resident of the federally subsidized Park Place Apartments in Rockland who uses a wheelchair. Lembo, who said he had obtained the gun just one day earlier after being the victim of four prior burglaries, shot an alleged intruder in his apartment on Aug. 31, 2015.

Lembo said Monday he would not be testifying at Wednesday’s hearing and had been advised by his attorneys not to comment on the shooting.

District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau said Friday he has not yet made a decision on whether Lembo would be charged or whether Lembo has met the conditions of a Maine law that states when it is permissible to use deadly force in defense of premises.

Rushlau said he had no comment on the proposed legislation by Cushing but questioned why it was being heard by the Criminal Justice committee, since he considered the matter a property rights issue.

A day after the shooting, the Stanford Management Co. of Portland, which manages the Park Place Apartments, presented Lembo with a written notice that he was in violation of his lease agreement by possessing a gun and directed that he not have one if he wished to remain in the apartment complex that has been his home for nearly seven years.

A lawsuit on Lembo’s behalf was filed in November in Knox County Unified Court, claiming that the directive by the property owner and management company violated his rights under both the state and U.S. Constitution.

The property owner and management firm have asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed.

Russ Gagne, director of finance for Stanford Management, said last year that the firearm prohibition was designed to ensure the safety of all tenants.

Attorneys for the Maine Gun Safety Coalition filed a motion last week to allow it to intervene in the case by submitting a brief in support of the dismissal of Lembo’s lawsuit.

“This case raises an issue of public interest regarding the extent of the right to bear arms in Maine and the right of private property owners to restrict firearms on their property,” stated the motion filed by attorney William Harwood of Portland.

“Mr. Lembo’s complaint, if allowed to proceed, would set a precedent that could prevent private property owners from prohibiting firearms on their own property,” the attorney contended.

Efforts on Monday to get comments specific to Cushing’s legislation from Stanford Management and Maine Gun Safety Coalition officials were unsuccessful.

According to police, the man Lembo shot, 45-year-old Christopher Wildhaber of Rockland, was apprehended near the apartment complex shortly after the confrontation and treated for his wound at Maine Medical Center in Portland before being taken to jail.

Wildhaber has been charged with burglary, theft of medication, attempted theft and three counts of refusing to submit to arrest. He pleaded not guilty last month to the charges and his case is pending.