Gov. Janet Mills will allow a bill regulating so-called ghost guns to become law without her signature, a spokesperson told the Press Herald on Friday.
The bill will require serial numbers on homemade guns, also known as ghost guns, and prohibit firearms that cannot be traced.
“Given that Maine law had long criminalized the possession or transportation of a firearm with altered or obscured serial numbers, the Governor believes this is an appropriate update to Maine law that is consistent with the intent of existing statute and will better protect Maine people,” spokesperson Ben Goodman said in a written statement.
The bill will become law in January 2027. Rare and antique firearms are excluded. Fines scale from $250 for the first offense to $500 for a second offense. A third offense would constitute a Class E crime, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
LD 1126, An Act Requiring Serial Numbers on Firearms and Prohibiting Undetectable Firearms, cleared the Senate by only one vote, with two senators absent, after an amendment reduced penalties and added the exclusion for antique firearms.
It’s one of 60 bills held by the governor when the first legislative session ended in June.
Mills can no longer sign any of those bills, but she will have three days from when lawmakers return on Jan. 7 to veto them; otherwise, they will become law without her signature.
Fifteen states have banned ghost guns, including Massachusetts and Rhode Island, according to the gun safety organization Everytown for Gun Safety.
Similar bills have failed here in the past, but interest was renewed after UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was shot and killed in New York City last December. The accused killer, Luigi Mangione, allegedly used a 3D-printed firearm.
Federal law already requires serial numbers on firearms manufactured for sale in the U.S. In March, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a Biden-era rule to treat homemade guns like other firearms, requiring serial numbers and background checks.
But the rise of at-home kits and 3D printing makes it easier to skirt those rules. The use of ghost guns in crimes has increased by more than 1,000% since 2017, according to a U.S. Department of Justice study released in 2023.
The decision by Mills, who is running for U.S. Senate, adds to her mixed record with gun safety legislation.
In 2024, Mills vetoed a bill to ban bump stocks and other rapid fire devices, while allowing a 72-hour waiting period for firearm purchases to become law without her signature.
This year, Mills opposed a statewide referendum to make it easier for family and household members to remove firearms from someone who poses a danger. But the measure adopting a so-called red flag law passed with 63% of the vote.
Mills, however, helped negotiate and signed the state’s yellow flag law in 2019 and expanded background checks on firearm sales.
This story was originally published by the Maine Trust for Local News. Randy Billings can be reached at rbillings@pressherald.com.