Voters in Maine approved a red flag gun law after a mass shooting that killed 18 people

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Two years after the deadliest mass shooting in state history, Maine residents voted Tuesday to make it easier for family members to petition a court to restrict a potentially dangerous person’s access to guns.

A ballot question asked residents if they wanted to build on the state’s yellow flag law, which allows police officers to initiate an operation to remove someone from firearms. The approval adds Maine to more than 20 states that have a red flag law, which enables family members to take the same step.

Gun safety advocates began pushing for it after 18 people were killed when an Army Reserve soldier opened fire at a bowling alley, a bar and a grill in Lewiston in October 2023. An independent commission appointed by Maine’s governor later concluded there were ample opportunities for intervention by military and civilian law enforcement officials.

Gun control advocates described this law as very weak and difficult to implement. The yellow flag law requires police to take a potentially dangerous person into protective custody and hold them for a mental health evaluation.

“Maine voters have taken the safety of our communities into our own hands by passing responsible, sane firearms legislation that will save lives and help keep our children and families safe, not only from the horrors of a tragedy like Lewiston, but from the devastating effects of everyday gun violence,” said Nicole Palmer, executive director of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, which sponsored Tuesday’s proposal.

Opponents of the red flag law said Tuesday that it is important that the yellow flag law remains state law.

“We are pleased that Maine’s yellow flag law remains intact, and we look forward to continuing to work to improve the safety of our state. We will review all options to keep Mainers safe as we move into the state’s future,” Coalition 2 said in a statement.

In the aftermath of the shooting, law enforcement officers testified before the independent panel that they had difficulty enforcing the state’s yellow flag law, which they described as cumbersome and time-consuming.

Rain-soaked memorials to those who died in a roadside mass shooting next to Schemengees Bar & Grille in Lewiston, Maine. Photography by Matt York/AP Photo

The campaign supporting the red flag law released an ad this fall in which Arthur Barnard, the father of Lewiston shooting victim Artie Strout, said a stronger law could have saved his son’s life.

“People going through a mental health crisis need help, and it’s not easy to get guns,” Barnard said in the ad. “Maine’s laws were too weak to save my son’s life. Vote 2-2 to change that.”

The red flag proposal has faced resistance from Republicans, hunting groups, gun rights organizations and some Democrats. Opponents said Maine is a relatively low-crime state where gun ownership is common, and state laws should reflect that.

Maine Gov. Janet Mills, a Democrat, opposed the ballot question. She said in October that the yellow flag law was “carefully crafted” with Maine in mind, and remains the appropriate law for the state.

“We have found common ground on one of the most controversial issues of our time,” Mills wrote in an op-ed for the Portland Press Herald. “A second question would create a new, separate, and confusing process that would undermine the effectiveness of the law and jeopardize public safety along with it.”

The ballot question campaign came as the legal implications of the Lewiston shooting are still unfolding.

Survivors and family members of victims of the fatal shooting have filed a lawsuit against the US Army and the Department of Defense, seeking unspecified damages, arguing that the US Army could have prevented Robert Card, a reservist, from carrying out the shootings. They also point to a Department of Defense watchdog report issued in September that faulted the U.S. military for its high rate of failure to report violent threats by service members.

The report specifically mentions Card, who died by suicide two days after the shooting. Failure to consistently report violent threats “may increase the risk of additional violent incidents by service members, such as what happened with the SFC (Sergeant First Class) card,” she says.

Victims’ attorneys said Card was in the midst of a mental health spiral known to many, which led to his hospitalization and left him paranoid, delusional and expressing homicidal thoughts.

Card’s family members and fellow reservists said he displayed delusional and paranoid behavior months before the shooting. “I think he’s going to explode and shoot en masse,” a fellow reservist said in a text message.