Sweeping gun legislation approved by Maine lawmakers after mass shooting

FILE - The Maine State House stands at sunrise, March 16, 2023, in Augusta, Maine . The Maine Legislature moved in fits and starts toward adjournment on Wednesday, April 17, 2024, with unfinished business including final votes on a series of gun safety bills that were introduced after the deadliest shooting in state history last fall.

“Maine has taken significant steps forward in preventing gun violence and protecting Maine lives,” said Nacole Palmer, executive director of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, who praised lawmakers for listening to their constituents., boost background checks for private sales of guns and make it a crime to recklessly sell a gun to someone who is prohibited from having guns. The bill also funds violence prevention initiatives and opens a mental health crisis receiving center in Lewiston.

Lawmakers pushed through the night and into the morning as they ran up against their adjournment date, which was Wednesday. But it didn’t come without some 11th-hour drama. Lawmakers had to approve a contentious supplemental budget before casting their final votes and didn’t wrap up the session until after daybreak.

Police were warned by family members that the shooter was becoming delusional and had access to weapons. He was hospitalized for two weeks while training with his unit last summer. And his best friend, a fellow reservist, warned that the man was goingRepublicans accused Democrats of using the tragedy to play on people’s emotions to pass contentious bills.

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