ME: Campus Carry advancing in Maine

Image from Maine.edu

The Maine legislature is contemplating a Campus Carry reform bill. The bill would restore a partial ability to exercise the Second Amendment at public institutions of higher education in Maine.

The bill, LD 1370, only allows people who are legally allowed to carry concealed weapons to carry on Campus.

It prohibits carry in college dorms and at athletic events. It is similar to campus carry in other states. In those states, there have been almost no problems. Notice that the opponent in the following quote, shows the totalitarian mindset.  Allowing people to exercise Second Amendment rights is irrationally associated with “giving them firearms”. The assumption seems to be that everything belongs to the state.  Not preventing someone from doing something is equated as “giving” them something.

From wcsh6.com:

“We have a lot of drunk college students in a small area so I feel like giving them firearms is a necessarily that helpful or that safe” Senior Tara Mullen said. “It’s a lot of potential for a very dangerous situations to come about — I like shooting but I also don’t feel the need for students to have guns on campus”.

Some students agreed with the idea.

“It’s another form of protection and it will decrease the likelihood of something like a school shooting or something fatal such as that” Junior Adwin Dougingu said.

“Everybody has a right to feel protected and if that means they feel they should carry a firearm with them than us there right” Sophomore Jerome Wiener said. “I think the whole purpose behind it is just protection”.

The Governor supports the bill, as evidenced by testimony given to the Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs on 1 May, 2017. From the testimony: 

I am writing to register the Administration’s support for LD 1370, “An Act To Enhance Safety on College and University Campuses by Allowing Firearms To Be Carried on the Campuses of Public Colleges and Universities.”

In 2015, the Maine Legislature Constitutional Carry reform by wide margins. Those votes included considerable numbers of Democrats. In the 2017 Legislature, the Republicans have a slim majority, 18-17.  In the House, the Democrats have a slim majority, 77 – 72.

The higher education lobby has enormous influence in state legislatures, especially among Democrats.

I would not be surprised to see this bill die in committee. But Maine is very independent, and Second Amendment friendly, so it has a chance.

The energetic Maine state Senator Eric Brakey introduced LD 1370. Senator Brakey was the driving force behind the passage of Constitutional Carry in Maine. Senator Brakey is running as an underdog against Maine U.S. Senator Angus King, a Democrat, in 2018.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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