After months of political gamesmanship, the people of Maine finally have a chance to speak out on a controversial gun control proposal. On Wednesday, June 11, the Legislature held a public hearing on a proposed “red flag” law—an event that almost didn’t happen due to widespread obstruction by Democratic leadership.
While Maine currently has a yellow flag law, this is distinguished from red flag laws by the fact it is only initiated by police and requires corroboration by a licensed psychologist. When the Legislature last year refused to pass a red flag law, a group of activists launched a ballot initiative, and that initiative is now before the Maine Legislature. However, despite the fact that Maine state law explicitly requires a public hearing for bills proposed through the ballot initiative process, Judiciary Committee leadership attempted to flagrantly violate that law by refusing to schedule a hearing, likely due to their fear of a public hearing becoming a rallying point against the initiative.
To understand how we got here, it’s important to trace the path of this bill. Last year, lawmakers considered and rejected a red flag law, which would allow courts to order the seizure of firearms from individuals deemed a risk to themselves or others. When that effort failed, national and local gun control groups mounted a citizens’ initiative to put the question directly on the ballot.
They gathered enough signatures to certify the initiative as an initiated bill, meaning the Legislature gets an attempt at passing it before it appears on Mainers’ ballots. If the Legislature declines, the question gets kicked to voters for their decision.
But here’s the twist: Maine law specifically requires that every initiated bill receive a public hearing, no matter what happens to it. This isn’t optional. It’s part of a 2019 law—pushed through with MPI’s support—that guarantees the people a voice before the state enacts or rejects direct legislation.
And yet, Democratic members of the Judiciary Committee nearly succeeded in sidestepping it. Relying on the flimsy argument that the Maine Constitution’s language on ballot initiatives doesn’t specifically require a hearing, Democratic leadership opted to sit on the bill, citing its slim chances of passage. In short, the committee saw no upside in holding a hearing that might cause political headaches. Initially, they chose silence over transparency.
While a state statute specifically states a public hearing is required, the initiated bill process is contained in the Maine Constitution (Art. IV Part Third, Section 18) , and it doesn’t directly mention the public hearing requirement. Because of this, the Judiciary Committee argued the measure would be constitutional either way and still a valid ballot question. Meanwhile, the implication was that while their actions were clearly in violation of state law, they were protected from legal action through either legislative immunity or procedural protections.
Fortunately, some lawmakers weren’t willing to let this slide. Rep. Rachel Henderson raised concerns on Friday, May 30, pointing out in committee the legal issue behind directly violating the laws of Maine. Despite her concern, every Democrat present for that Judiciary Committee hearing against holding a public hearing. The final vote was four Republicans voting to have a hearing and six Democrats voting against it. One Republican (Rep. Jennifer Poirier) and one Democrat (Rep. Dylan Pugh) were not present for the vote and the final tally fell along party lines. At that point, it seemed somewhat hopeless, as no other direct mechanism to appeal the committee’s decision existed.
However, when that effort failed, Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart took matters into his own hands. He attempted four separate procedural moves on Friday, June 6 to force a hearing—each blocked by Senate leadership. The Democrat-controlled Senate still sided against holding a hearing despite the multiple attempts by Republicans to give the public a chance to discuss the proposed initiative.
The stalemate finally broke on the evening of Monday, June 9 around 11:30 p.m. In a late-night reversal, Senate Democrats finally agreed to schedule a public hearing for Wednesday, June 11. No official reason was given for the sudden about-face; we can only speculate. My guess is this: gun rights activists were furious about being silenced, but so were gun control advocates, who hadn’t had a chance to make their case in public either. With both sides demanding a forum, the political cost of doing nothing became too high.
Now, Mainers get the hearing they wanted all along.
Let’s be clear: this hearing likely won’t change the outcome in the Legislature. Most insiders agree the red flag bill won’t pass, meaning the final decision will fall to the voters in November. But thanks to the 2019 transparency law—one that some lawmakers tried to ignore—citizens will at least get a shot at making their voices heard before the debate moves to the ballot box.
The real lesson here is simple: process matters. Public trust depends on lawmakers following not just the letter, but the spirit, of the law. Trying to bury a high-profile, polarizing issue like gun control behind closed doors is a recipe for backlash—and this week, the public backlash worked.
It is frankly tragic that legislative leadership again attempted to violate major procedural rules. This comes after the U.S. Supreme Court needed to step in to right the obvious constitutional and procedural wrongs present in the Legislature’s censure of Rep. Laurel Libby.
At this point, all we can hope is that fellow members of the Legislature or federal legal forces continue to hold legislative leadership accountable for any future violations.