Kennebec Journal (Augusta, Maine)

December 1, 2005:
Maine legislators should not be afraid of tough gun laws

It is too easy to buy a gun in Maine. And in New Hampshire. And in Vermont.

Just ask the people in Massachusetts, where it is much tougher to get a firearm -- at least legally.

Increasing numbers of guns from Maine and the rest of northern New England are turning up in greater Boston and elsewhere in the Bay State, according to police who are grappling with growing numbers of shootings and firearms arrests.

Like New Hampshire and Vermont, Maine has become a "buying" destination for people trying to get around tough Massachusetts laws that require a state permit to purchase handguns.

Many guns, including older ones that are tough to trace, are being bought in northern New England and used to break laws here and elsewhere.

A Massachusetts resident who wants a handgun must pay $100 for a state-issued permit. Such permits are not required in Maine or elsewhere in northern New England, where handgun buyers need only show identification proving their residency.

Although it violates federal law for a Massachusetts resident to buy a gun out of state and then return with it, the law can be skirted easily by having a resident of another state buy a gun from a dealer and then sell it or give it away.

Just as troubling, private gun owners in many states -- including Maine -- who are selling weapons need not conduct background checks on buyers. There is also no waiting period for private gun sales.

Such loopholes allow anyone with a few bucks -- criminals included -- to buy a gun without anybody's knowledge.

Officials in greater Boston and other Massachusetts cities with high crime rates -- including Worcester, Fall River and New Bedford -- say legislatures in northern New England must put more common sense and muscle into their lax gun laws.

We agree. Laws meant to protect the public cannot ignore who has guns or who has access to them.

There is a long tradition of gun ownership in Maine, where there are an estimated 1.4 million guns -- including some 400,000 handguns. Many efforts in the past to toughen the state's gun laws have been opposed by the powerful gun lobby, including the National Rifle Association and the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine. These organizations and other gun advocates tend to oppose most efforts to tighten firearms laws, arguing that tougher restrictions would infringe on the right to bear arms.

That is an easy -- but a baseless -- claim.

It is constitutionally permissible for lawmakers in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont or any other state to make it tougher for certain people to acquire guns.

It makes no sense to say that hunters, target shooters and other legitimate gun owners would be denied a right or be unnecessarily inconvenienced if Maine had a law requiring a permit to buy a handgun. Or a law requiring the registration of handguns or the licensing of handgun owners. Or a law requiring a permit to carry a handgun (Maine law requires permits only for concealed firearms).

Or laws that keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill. Or that prevent children from having access to or possessing guns.

We are confident that many Maine legislators understand appropriate access to firearms. Earlier this year, for example, lawmakers defeated two gun lobby-supported bills that would have made it easier to carry concealed handguns in Maine.

Now lawmakers, who convene next month, need to find other ways to get Maine off the list of states where it is easy to buy guns.

Public safety, after all, is the priority.

Lawmakers should not be pleased with Maine's growing reputation as a point of origination for illegal gun trafficking.

Copyright, 2005, Blethen Maine Newspapers, Inc.

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