Is Maine Governor Trying to Hold the Line on Gun Rights?

Maine Gov. Janet Mills irks a lot of people throughout the country. She’s a Democrat who represents many of the party’s values, which many others find very distasteful, to say the least.

But there’s one issue that she’s not exactly the most stalwart Democrat on, and that’s guns.

Yes, she’s signed some gun control measures in recent years, but she pushed back against a lot as well. What’s more, there are a lot of bills Mills has done nothing about, including some anti-gun legislation.

Gov. Janet Mills is delaying action on dozens of bills passed by lawmakers this legislative session, including measures to ban untraceable firearms and to give the Wabanaki Nations exclusive rights to operate expanded online gambling.

Mills had 10 days from when lawmakers gave final passage of each bill to sign it into law. Monday was the deadline for the last bills passed by the Legislature, and since lawmakers have adjourned for the year, any unsigned bills will be held until the next time lawmakers come back in session for at least three days — likely in January. At that point, Mills would have the option to veto each bill or allow it to become law without her signature.

“The Legislature passed a significant number of bills at the end of session, and the governor takes seriously her constitutional obligation to thoroughly review all of them and to evaluate their implications on Maine people, Maine businesses and the Maine economy,” Mills’ office said in an emailed statement Tuesday.

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The held bills include LD 1126, which would ban so-called ghost guns and require serial numbers on firearms, and LD 1164, which would give tribes exclusive rights to offer online gambling games such as blackjack, roulette and poker.

Mills’ office did not say Tuesday if she had specific concerns with either of the bills, though her administration testified against LD 1164.

Now, the lawmaker who introduced that bill is pretty sure it’s still a thing and that Mills will likely sign it.

I’m not so sure, and not just because her administration testified against it.

While Mills is far from what anyone might consider pro-gun, she’s also not nearly as anti-gun as her status as a Democratic governor might suggest. In the wake of Lewiston, while gun control advocates tried to go on a tear, proposing every bit of anti-Second Amendment legislation they could think of, Mills held the line against the worst of it.

Sure, some passed, but not nearly as much as could have with just about any other Democratic governor.

My personal take, which is really just my gut feeling, is that Mills won’t support this kind of law or much of the other things that Maine’s anti-gun crowd wants. Her previous capitulations to them were likely a matter of making sure she didn’t make too many enemies in her own party, so she could get other stuff done.

I’m not excusing it, because there’s no excuse for things like waiting periods or universal background checks–especially as none of them would have stopped Lewiston–but she also could have signed a lot more things into law that she didn’t because they went to far in her view.

I think this will be more of the same.