Co-chair Sen. Anne Carney, D-Cape Elizabeth, introduces a bill to ban bump stocks and other rapid-fire devices during a hearing on several gun bills Wednesday in Augusta. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

AUGUSTA — Debate over Maine’s firearm laws returned to the State House on Wednesday as lawmakers took up a slate of new gun bills and advocates on both sides turned out for a full day of hearings.

One set of bills focused on gun control would ban bump stocks and other rapid-fire devices, prohibit large-capacity ammunition feeding devices, and ban untraceable “ghost guns.”

Another set of gun rights proposals would ease Maine’s concealed carry law, which allows lawful firearm owners 21 and older to carry a concealed handgun without a permit.

They included bills to lower the minimum age to 18 and remove the requirement for a permit to carry a concealed handgun in state parks and Acadia National Park, a proposal the bill’s sponsor described as a “cleanup” of state law to better align it with park rules and federal law. A third bill would eliminate the requirement that anyone carrying a concealed handgun without a permit and who comes in contact with a law enforcement officer during an arrest, detainment or traffic stop immediately inform the officer they are carrying.

The Judiciary Committee heard more than seven hours of testimony on the proposals Wednesday, including emotional testimony from a Portland-area student who cried as she recounted witnessing a shooting outside a restaurant when she was in third grade. She urged lawmakers to support the gun control bills.

“Gun violence has a devastating impact on individuals, communities and society,” said the student, who identified herself only using her first name, Iris.

“We need to implement gun safety laws if we’re ever going to create a society where gun violence is not an everyday fear,” she said. “We cannot ignore the trauma and fear that has built up in people. It is unbelievable to know we can take this fear away, yet we don’t.”

TESTIMONY FOR AND AGAINST

Physicians, educators and gun safety advocates told lawmakers that the bills to prohibit rapid-fire devices (LD 677), large-capacity ammunition feeding devices (LD 1109) and ghost guns (LD 1126) would reduce gun violence and improve health and safety.

“Gun violence is a serious public health crisis,” Paul Cain, immediate past president of the Maine Medical Association, said in testifying in support of the three bills. “Deaths by firearms, including homicide, suicide and accidents, continue to increase in frequency. As caregivers to our community, we see the importance of preserving existing gun safety laws and advocating for sensible and practical legislation.”

Supporters of Second Amendment rights, meanwhile, told lawmakers that the proposals infringe on those rights and efforts to limit gun violence would be better focused on increasing access to mental health supports and enforcing existing laws.

“The thing these three bills have in common is they create criminals from law-abiding citizens,” said Robert Duhaime, a member of the group Gun Owners of Maine who described himself as a passionate gun rights activist.

Robert Duhaime, a member of the group Gun Owners of Maine, testifies before the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee during a hearing on several gun bills Wednesday. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

“These bills attack the rights of all gun owners, making criminals out of the left, the right and the middle,” he said.

BAN ON BUMP STOCKS PROPOSED AGAIN

The bill to ban bump stocks and other rapid fire devices, LD 677, is sponsored by Sen. Anne Carney, D-Cape Elizabeth, and is similar to a bill Carney proposed last year that was passed by lawmakers but vetoed by Gov. Janet Mills.

In her veto message, Mills cited the fact that federal regulations banning bump stocks were being challenged at the time in the U.S. Supreme Court — which did eventually strike down a federal ban on the devices — and also voiced concerns about the language of last year’s bill being too broad and ambiguous.

Carney said Wednesday that the high court’s ruling in June that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had exceeded its statutory authority with the regulations added urgency to the need to approve a state-level law.

“State enforcement is now the only means to uphold the long-standing public safety policy of regulating or prohibiting automatic weapons and their equivalents that has been federal law for 90 years,” she said.

She said the bill also includes different language than last year’s to address concerns from Mills that it would inadvertently prohibit adjustments made by hunters to improve accuracy rather than change the rate of fire.

Asked Wednesday if Mills has a position on the bill, a spokesperson said the governor is monitoring it.

The proposal for a prohibition on so-called ghost guns, which don’t have serial numbers and are untraceable, was proposed by Rep. Sam Zager, D-Portland. The Maine Gun Safety Coalition called for the proposal last winter after a ghost gun was allegedly used to kill a health care CEO in downtown Manhattan.

Wednesday’s hearing came the same day as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to uphold Biden administration rules that guns built from at-home kits be treated like other firearms by requiring companies to add serial numbers, run background checks and verify that buyers are 21 or older.

Zager’s bill would prohibit undetectable firearms and also require serial numbers on firearms.

“I hope this committee will see that this bill would bring parity to firearms, as it honors the rights described in the federal and state constitutions,” Zager said. “Homemade and home-finished firearms would have a serialization requirement, just like conventionally manufactured firearms have had for many decades.”

Maine Gun Safety Coalition Executive Director Nacole Palmer testified in favor of LD 1126, LD 677 and LD 1109 Tuesday and said in a statement after the public hearings that the three bills are “common-sense proposals that will help keep Maine families safe and help law enforcement crack down on illegal guns used by criminals.”

“Now more than ever, it’s critical we do what we can at the state and local level to protect our families and promote gun responsibility,” Palmer said.

CHANGES TO CONCEALED CARRY

Gun rights supporters, meanwhile, turned out in favor of the changes to Maine’s concealed carry law, including a fourth bill that would make it easier to legally store firearms in locked vehicles outside workplaces.

“We are in support of all four of these pieces of legislation, which seek to standardize the differences between having a concealed weapons permit and constitutional carry,” said Laura Whitcomb, president of Gun Owners of Maine.

The Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry said in written testimony that it is neither for nor against LD 829, the bill seeking to change the requirement for a permit to carry a concealed weapon in a state park. The bill is sponsored by Sen. David Haggan, R-Hampden.

“The proposed amendment … would not affect the current policy and practice in Maine State Parks and the Allagash Wilderness Waterway, which allows firearms, including handguns, as long as they are concealed,” the bureau’s director wrote.

The Maine Chiefs of Police Association is against LD 1049, which eliminates the requirement for gun owners carrying a concealed weapon without a permit to immediately notify officers during interactions with police.

Permit holders must complete an approved handgun safety course before applying for a permit, while gun owners who carry without a permit usually do not have the necessary training in gun safety, handling and conflict resolution, said Jason Moen, president of the association and police chief in Auburn, in written testimony.

“If a law enforcement officer is unaware that an individual is armed with a firearm and only finds out part way through the interaction, it changes the atmosphere and can lead to an escalated situation,” Moen wrote. “By informing law enforcement at the onset of an arrest, detention or contact, officers can better assess the situation at hand and proceed in a manner that keeps them, the individual, and the public safe.”