Legislative Update

Governor Mills has Vetoed the Machine Gun Re-Definition Bill/Forfeiture of Firearms bill and allowed the 72-Hour Waiting Period to go into law without her signature. 

Thank you for your time and efforts in writing and calling the Governor, your State Representatives and State Senators regarding the gun bills that were sent to the Governor this session.

There is good news and bad news.

Governor Mills has vetoed the bill that would have altered our forfeited firearms law as well as amended the definition of a machine gun in Maine, outlawing bump stocks and common trigger alterations used by thousands of Maine gun owners. We would strongly encourage you to reach out to your legislators and ask them to sustain this veto.

It also brought to light the fact that the definition of Machine Gun in Maine Statute is out of step with the Federal definition and, as currently worded, could be construed to mean some commonly used shotgun ammunition. We will be working with legislators next year to make sure that the definition is logical and in step with Federal law.

The bad news is, Governor Mills has allowed the 72-hour Waiting period to go into law without her signature. This is no different than if she had signed the law.

Maine residents elected the Governor to make hard decisions, and she took the cowardly way out and allowed a terrible, unconstitutional bill to go into law.

This bill was defeated in 2023 and was brought back to life unethically during the emergency session by altering a few words, was passed using questionable vote-pairing in the Senate, and then will go into law without the Governor’s signature.

This doesn’t sound like a piece of legislation that the Maine people want.

We will be taking steps in the next couple of days to look into the best avenues for pursuing legal action.

Waiting periods are arbitrary impositions on law-abiding citizens that do nothing to curb the activities of criminals.

They are an infringement on our inherent rights and are in direct defiance of both our Maine and United States Constitutions.

We raise money by raffling firearms, selling various merchandise, and offering memberships to those interested in supporting the defense of gun rights in Maine.

The passage of 72-hour Waiting periods is cause for the utilization of those resources.

We will keep you updated on our progress, and thank you for standing with us in our fight to preserve gun rights in Maine.

Laura Whitcomb will be on the George Hale Ric Tyler show on 101.3/103.9 WVOM at 6:08am on Tuesday, April 30th to discuss these events.