Organizers said Thursday they have gathered enough signatures to get a red flag law referendum on Maine’s November ballot.
The Maine Gun Safety Coalition’s volunteers collected more than 80,000 signatures over the past two months. That’s more than the roughly 67,000 signatures needed to qualify for the ballot. The deadline for submitting signatures to the secretary of state’s office was Thursday, and the office must now verify the signatures.
“This November, Mainers will have a chance to have their own say and vote on this initiative to keep our schools and our communities safe,” said Nacole Palmer, executive director of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition.
A red-flag law, also known as an extreme risk protection order, allows families to petition a judge to take away a relative’s guns when they pose a danger to themselves and others.It was among a slew of gun control bills introduced in the last legislative session in response to the October 2023 mass shooting in Lewiston that left 18 people dead and 13 wounded.
Lawmakers passed several changes to the state’s gun laws, including a 72-hour waiting period that’s been widely opposed by gun sellers and gun-rights groups, such as the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, and is now the target of a lawsuit. Lawmakers also passed expanded background checks covering all advertised gun sales but exempting transfers between family members.
But other measures failed to pass. Gov. Janet Mills vetoed a bump-stock ban, calling it “broad” and “ambiguous.”
The red flag law was among those that failed to garner enough support. Instead, lawmakers modified elements of Maine’s existing yellow-flag law, which was negotiated by Mills and the gun-rights Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine and allows law enforcement to ask a judge for permission to temporarily seize someone’s guns when they pose a threat.
Since the Lewiston shooting, police have used the yellow-flag law more than 500 times, compared with fewer than 100 between 2019 and October 2023.
Twenty-one states and the District of Columbia have a red flag law, according to Giffords Law Center. The red flag law can prevent another Lewiston and even reduce suicides, the leading cause of firearm deaths among Maine men, the Maine Gun Safety Coalition said Thursday.
In December 2024, a red flag law was used in California to disarm a man who allegedly was plotting a mass shooting, CBS News reported.
“Nothing will bring back my son, but this common-sense measure could help prevent any other parent from ever having to experience what I have, and that’s worth it,” Arthur Barnard, one of the citizen sponsors and father of Artie Strout, who was killed in the Lewiston shooting, said in a statement.
BDN writer Michael Shepherd contributed to this report.