Maine is a top focus for national gun safety advocates pressing for new federal and state laws this year. The interest comes after a mass shooting last fall that claimed the lives of 18 people in Lewiston.
In a virtual press conference Thursday with the advocacy groups Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action, state Sen. Anne Carney said she believes new gun safety legislation could also address issues other than mass shootings.
“We also know that this legislation will help us address suicide and domestic violence homicide, two longstanding and acute causes of firearm related death and injury here in Maine,” she said.
About 89 percent of gun-related deaths in Maine are by suicide, according to Centers for Disese Control and Prevention data.
Carney said state lawmakers are still crafting new gun safety legislation, and it will take time to build the kind of broad coalition that it will take to pass these bills into law.
Everytown advocates said they’re prioritizing new policies in Maine that would limit access to assault weapons, and require a 72-hour waiting period for gun buyers before completing a purchase. The group also wants to see Maine pass an extreme risk, or so-called “red flag” law.
This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public.