Maine Looking to ‘Redefine’ Machine Guns

When the Lewiston shooting happened in Maine, it wasn’t overly shocking that gun control became a thing. While the state had a long history of upholding gun rights, it was a pretty blue state overall, which means they were always more likely to embrace it than, say, Texas might.

But the truth of the matter is that once anti-gunners gain a little ground, they’re never going to stop.

Currently, the legislature up that way is looking at some new bills, including one that would redefine machine guns in state law.

Democratic Sen. Anne Carney proposed legislation that would redefine machine guns and further regulate gun attachments.

Owning a machine gun in Maine is legal to some extent but with very strict limitations and guidelines and owning one without proper authority is illegal and a Class D crime. 

Federal law requires machine guns to be registered with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and prohibits the possession or transfer of machine guns manufactured after 1986.

Federal law also requires someone to complete an ATF Form 4 to transfer a registered pre-1986 machine gun to another person, and the seller of the machine gun must submit the form to the ATF with a $200 transfer tax. The ATF must approve the Form 4 before the person receiving the machine gun takes legal possession of the weapon.

Maine law prohibits knowingly possessing a machine gun with the exception of machine guns manufactured, acquired transferred or possessed in accordance with federal law. 

Carney said she wants to implement new restrictions on those weapons with LD 677. 

She argues that as it becomes more common for people to attach bump stocks and other devices to semi-automatic guns to make them function as machine guns, there’s a need to update the state’s definition of what a machine gun is. 

“You can actually buy a machine gun, either an original one or one with a device, but you have to pay an additional fee,” Carney said. “It would make these devices subject to that same requirement that’s been in existence for decades.”

Carney said that as technology and guns become more advanced, so should the laws that regulate them.

Now, this might not look like the worst thing in the world to many people, but it’s important to remember a few things.

First, LD 677 doesn’t actually provide any mechanism for registering bump stock-equipped firearms with the state. It might exist somewhere else in state law, but not in this bill, which is kind of a problem since it’s unlikely Maine maintains its own NFA registry.

See, a bump stock-equipped semi-automatic isn’t considered a machine gun under federal law unless you also have a short barrel on it. Then it’s an SBR and it’s registerable. Otherwise, it’s not a thing.

What Carney wants to do is tell you that you can’t have a bump stock or other mechanism that facilitates quicker fire without registering it, all without having any way to register it.

That means it’s effectively a ban, unless I’m misreading this entirely, which is certainly possible.

However, I’d also like to point out that in the entire history of people knowing how to bump fire, I know of exactly one crime has been reported where these played a factor. Admittedly, it was a big one, but these aren’t the problem. They’ve never been the problem.

Full-auto switches and other devices that actually turn a firearm into a machine gun are a little different, and they’re covered by this measure too, but bump stocks are one thing specifically mentioned in the article.

And that’s a bunch of male bovine feces.

For what it’s worth, though, the GOP in Maine has a bill that will restore gun rights to non-violent felons, so that’s a positive. Somehow, I doubt it will pass.

As for Carney’s bill, it’s just more evidence that no matter what anti-gunners claim, it’s never going to be enough for them. These things they say they want are just what they want now. Later, it’ll be something else until you find your right to keep and bear arms as little more than words on a very old piece of paper.