2024-04-18 17:27:46
Six months following a deadly mass shooting by an Army reservist, Maine lawmakers this week approved a wide range of new gun restrictions.
Six months following that a deadly mass shooting by an Army reservist, Maine lawmakers approved a wide range of new gun restrictions this week.
Three months following a fatal school shootingIowa lawmakers passed legislation this week allowing trained teachers and staff to carry guns on school property.
Two states. Two tragedies. Two different approaches to improving public safety.
“We’re essentially living in two different Americas,” said Daniel Webster, a professor of health policy affiliated with the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions.
“We see horrific acts of gun violence; nobody wants them, of course,” Webster said. “But we see it through different lenses.”
Legislatures in regarding 20 states have already passed measures this year to expand gun rights or restrict access to firearms. Dozens more proposals are pending. The division continues a trend seen last year, when more than half of the states firearms legislation introducedWith Democrats generally favoring more restrictions and Republicans more freedoms for gun owners.
RESTRICTIONS ON GUNS IN MAINE
Maine has a tradition of hunting and gun ownership. But to an army reservist killed 18 people and wounded 13 others in Lewiston, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills called for a variety of new laws aimed at preventing dangerous people from owning guns and strengthening mental health services.
Before adjourning his 2024 session early Thursday, lawmakers approved measures introduce a 72-hour waiting period for firearm purchases, expand background checks on private gun sales, and criminalize sales to certain prohibited people. They also passed a ban on devices that convert semi-automatic firearms into rapid-fire weapons such as machine guns, and strengthened an existing law that allows judges to temporarily remove guns from people during a mental health crisis.
GUNS IN IOWA SCHOOLS
In Perry, Iowa, a school principal and sixth grade student died and several others were wounded when A 17-year-old student opened fire in January.
A 2021 state law already allowed schools to authorize individuals to carry firearms, though some districts did not because of concerns regarding insurance coverage.
The legislation that was finally approved by the Republican-led legislature on Monday builds on the previous law by allowing teachers and staff who undergo gun safety training to obtain a professional permit to carry guns in schools. If they do, they will be protected from criminal or civil liability for the use of reasonable force.
The legislation also requires large school districts to place a police officer or private security guard at each high school, unless the school board votes not to. Most of those school districts already have safety personnel.
SEPARATING STATE LAWS
Republican-led legislatures in Kentucky, Nebraska, South Dakota, Tennessee and Utah also passed measures this year that would expand the ability of some people to bring guns into schools. A bill passed in Wyoming appropriates $480,000 to reimburse schools for the cost of training employees to carry guns on school property.
Louisiana and South Carolina, led by Republican lawmakers and governors, have each introduced laws allowing people to carry concealed guns without a permit. The National Rifle Association, which supported the measures, said similar laws now exist in 29 states.
By contrast, the Democrat-led Delaware legislature passed legislation requires people who want to buy a handgun to first be fingerprinted, undergo training and obtain a state permit.
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, signed some new laws impose restrictions. One imposes a seven-day waiting period to purchase firearms — more than double the three-day period required by the federal government for a background check.
Another new law in New Mexico prohibits carrying firearms within 100 feet (30 meters) of polling places, with an exemption for concealed carry permit holders. Polling place restrictions on firearms now exist in regarding one-third of states and Washington, DC, according to the gun violence prevention group Giffords.
BUCKING PARTY TRENDS
Not all new gun policies differ along partisan lines.
While he has signed several gun rights measures, so has Republican Gov. Mark Gordon of Wyoming veto legislation it would have allowed people to carry concealed guns in public schools and government meetings. Gordon expressed concern the account might have exceeded the separation of powers provision in the state constitution.
And in some cases, high-profile shootings have prompted lawmakers to not take action on proposals they might otherwise have considered.
Missouri’s Republican-led House was prepared to debate bills that would exempt guns and ammunition from sales tax and allow people with concealed carry permits to bring guns onto public transportation. But to the deadly shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl celebrationHouse Majority Leader Jon Patterson said those bills will not be introduced this year.
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Associated Press writers David Sharp in Augusta, Maine, and Hannah Fingerhut in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.
David A. Lieb, The Associated Press
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