Thursday, April 9, 2015

Maine to go to Constitutional Carry?

Rick emails to point out more progress:
AUGUSTA, Maine — Sen. Eric Brakey, an Auburn Republican serving his first term in the Legislature, is bullish about rolling back restrictions on carrying concealed handguns in Maine, despite several similar efforts that failed in recent years.
His bill, LD 652, would make Maine the fifth state to establish “constitutional carry” — a universal right of all legal firearm owners to carry concealed handguns on their person or in their vehicles. The bill has a whopping 96 co-sponsors, more than half the state Legislature, including leaders from both parties.
“We have a lot of support,” Brakey, the bill’s sponsor, said Friday. “A majority in the House has signed on as co-sponsors and a near-majority in the Senate. We have a very strong coalition.”
Maine law allows legal gun owners to apply to their local police chief or to the state for a permit to carry a concealed weapon. The process involves a fee, a mandatory gun safety course and a finding that the applicant is of “good moral character,” which mostly means being free of serious criminal charges or convictions.
But Brakey and others say the law is unnecessary. Maine already allows for the open carrying of handguns without any rules other than that the person displaying the weapon is legally entitled to own it. They ask: Why should such a citizen be deemed a criminal simply for putting on a coat?
Onward!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

They should also mention that the "moral character" element was historically used to deny applications to black men.

Eagle said...

NH also allows unrestricted open carry but requires a license for concealed carry. However, it's a "must issue" license: 4 years, costs $10, and is issued by the local police department. Mine took about 48 working hours: dropped off the application on Thurs afternoon, got a call on Monday AM to come pick it up.

NH has the same "Why should such a citizen be deemed a criminal simply for putting on a coat?" problem: open carry is ok, but you need a license when you put on a coat. There is currently a bill in the NH House to eliminate the NH concealed carry law, which would make NH a full "constitutional carry" state.

Rev. Paul said...

Kansas just passed a Constitutional Carry bill, too, and the governor said he'll sign it.

One could learn to like this trend. :)

Dave H said...

One could learn to like this trend. :)

Or at least envy it.