AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) Maine lawmakers have begun considering gun control bills ranging from prohibiting the sale of high-capacity magazines to instituting 72-hour waiting periods for gun buyers.
Legislative committees considered the bills at Friday hearings.
Lawmakers say they’re concerned about suicides linked to firearms. But some gun rights groups say Democrats’ push for background checks for private sales and court orders to require certain individuals to surrender guns infringes on Maine’s constitutional right to “keep and bear arms.”
Voters in the largely rural state defeated a universal background checks referendum in 2016.
Lawmakers are also considering regulating 3-D printed guns and punishing those who store a loaded firearm that a child then uses.
A Republican’s bill would allow the use of deadly force to prevent death or serious bodily injury in self-defense.
