AUGUSTA, Maine — The Maine House and Senate have voted to support a bill that would allow tenants in subsidized housing developments to have guns.
The Republican-led Senate approved the measure, LD 1572, March 24 without a roll call vote. An attempt to kill the bill in the House on Wednesday morning failed, 54-92. The bill, which would prohibit landlords from barring guns owned by tenants, went on to pass without another vote. It faces further procedural votes.
Democratic Rep. Lori Fowle of Vassalboro, the House chairwoman of the Legislature’s Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, had recommended that the Democratic-majority House vote against the legislation.
The bill arose out of an incident last year, when 67-year-old Harvey Lembo of Rockland shot and wounded a man he said had broken into his residence to steal his prescription painkillers. After the Aug. 31 shooting at the Park Place Apartments, the management company for the property owner sent Lembo a notice that he could not possess a gun on the property if he wanted to continue living there.
A lawsuit on behalf of Lembo has been filed in Knox County Unified Court with the backing of the National Rifle Association, claiming that such a prohibition violates his right to have a gun under the U.S. and Maine constitutions. Park Place Apartments and the management company Stanford Management of Portland have responded to the lawsuit saying they have the legal right to restrict guns.
The proposed bill would prohibit landlords who receive federal subsidies from barring tenants possessing guns. The bill was amended to provide immunity to landlords in the event of a shooting in which someone is injured or killed. The immunity does not cover willful, reckless or grossly negligent actions by the landlord in regard to gun possession, according to the bill.
The bill also exempts an owner-occupied building of four or fewer units.
BDN State House bureau chief Christopher Cousins contributed to this report.