Maine Gov. Janet Mills said Monday she will allow one of a final pair of gun safety bills — a waiting period for gun purchases — to become law without her signature after last year's Lewiston mass shooting. The law will go into effect this summer, the Associated Press reports. The governor vetoed a ban on bump stocks that would have applied to a device that can be added to a semiautomatic rifle to allow it to fire like a machine gun. A gunman used a bump stock in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, in which 60 people were killed and 869 people injured. The 72-hour waiting period for gun sales drew fierce opposition from Republicans who said it would infringe on the rights of people who want to exercise their constitutional right to buy a gun. Maine hunting guides said that it could crimp gun sales to out-of-state hunters who come to Maine for short excursions and buy a gun while visiting the state.
Mills said she is allowing the waiting period to become law with “caveats and concerns.” She asked the state’s attorney general and public safety commission to monitor constitutional challenges over waiting periods that are playing out elsewhere. “This is an emotional issue for many, and there are compelling arguments for and against,” Mills said The bills were among several actions by lawmakers after the deadliest shooting in state history, in which an Army reservist killed 18 people and injured 13 more at a bowling alley and at a bar and grill on Oct. 25 in Lewiston. The shooter was found dead by a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The governor already signed a bill that she sponsored to strengthen the state’s yellow flag law, boost background checks for private sales of guns and make it a crime to recklessly sell a gun to someone who is prohibited from having guns. The bill also funds violence-prevention initiatives and funds mental health crisis receiving centers.
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