AUGUSTA, Maine — An amended version of a controversial bill that would guarantee tenants in many publicly subsidized apartments the right to own a gun barely made it out of committee this week and now heads to the House and Senate for further debate.
The Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee of the Maine Legislature voted 7-6 to recommend passage of LD 1572, which was introduced in response to a case involving 67-year-old tenant Harvey Lembo of Rockland. Lembo, who uses a wheelchair to get around, shot and wounded an alleged intruder he said was trying to steal his prescription medications inside his residence on Aug. 31, 2015, at the Park Place Apartments.
A day after the shooting, the Stanford Management Co. of Portland, which manages the apartments, notified Lembo that he violated his lease agreement by possessing a gun and directed him to get rid of it if he wished to stay in the 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. The case has not yet been scheduled for a court hearing.
Meanwhile, however, state Sen. Andre Cushing, a Newport Republican, proposed the legislation that would give Lembo and other tenants of federally subsidized housing the right to bear arms. The bill does not apply to privately owned apartment buildings that do not have subsidized tenants.
Cushing could not not immediately be reached Friday, but last month, he said subsidized housing was housing of last resort for many people and they should not see their rights diminished because of their financial situation.
Opponents of his measure, however, argue that the bill attacks the property rights of landowners.
“I think it is a big reach for state government to get involved in a private property issue between a landlord and tenant,” said Rep. Lori Fowle, a Vassalboro Democrat who is the House chair of the Criminal Justice committee and voted against the bill. “People talk about local control but I’m not sure what is more local than this private property matter.”
Fowle also said that the bill could have unintended consequences by possibly causing landlords who accept public assistance funds to stop doing so and to discourage new landlords from participating in the programs. She said there are 20,000 people waiting to get in the Section 8 public rental assistance program and the bill could make their waits longer.
Before the bill made it through committee this week, Cushing amended it to allow landlords who own and live in apartment buildings with four or fewer units to still ban guns in their federally subsidized units.
The measure passed largely along party lines, with one Democrat on the panel — Sen. Stanley Gerzofsky of Brunswick — joining all six Republican members to vote in favor. The other six Democrats on the panel voted against the bill.
No date has been set yet for when the measure will come up in the House and Senate.