Maine Gov. Janet Mills enters the House of Representatives chamber to deliver her State of the Budget address to a joint House-Senate session on Jan. 28, 2025. (Photo by Jim Neuger/ Maine Morning Star)
During the State of the Budget address in Augusta on Tuesday night, Gov. Janet Mills took the opportunity to defend Maine’s unique “yellow flag law” and swiped at a citizen-led effort to bolster the gun safety measure.
Under the current law, known as an Extreme Risk Protection Order, law enforcement can detain someone who they deem a threat to themselves or others, or confiscate someone’s weapons after a mental health evaluation is completed.
Last week, advocates with the Maine Gun Safety Coalition submitted 80,000 signatures to put a stricter “red flag” law on the ballot this November, which would also allow family members to directly petition a judge to temporarily limit someone’s access to firearms when they are in crisis.
Gun safety groups deliver signatures to place red flag law on November ballot
Maine is the only state to have a yellow flag law, which Mills helped draft with help from the pro-gun Sportsmans Alliance of Maine. However, the law came under criticism last year for not being used by the Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Department to take guns away from Lewiston shooter Robert Card II after reports of threatening behavior and concerns about his mental health.
But Mills said the law is working, and has been used 672 times so far by law enforcement agencies to take firearms away from those who should not have them.
“I also don’t believe a private citizen should have to navigate what can be a complex and confusing court procedure by themselves, especially in the middle of already difficult circumstances,” she said. “It is the government’s responsibility, not that of a private citizen, to protect the public from gun violence.”
After the speech, the gun safety coalition released a statement pointing to the findings of the commission tasked with investigating the Lewiston shooting, which determined the yellow flag law should have been used but described the statute as “cumbersome.”
“Maine communities and families are still reeling from this colossal failure, and we can’t wait until the next tragedy as we tweak our current law bit by bit,” said Nacole Palmer, executive director for the Maine Gun Safety Coalition. “Maine voters are clear – it’s time we pass an Extreme Risk Protection Order to empower families to get help when a loved one is in crisis.”
At the press conference ahead of the signature delivery, Palmer said the ballot initiative does not replace the existing yellow flag law, but would layer on the protections of the red flag law.
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