March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Police set to enforce federal gun law> McCausland: Delays, problems likely

AUGUSTA — Even as the Brady law took effect Monday, police in Maine were refining a system for enforcing the new federal handgun-control law.

Some details of the law remained vague to police and dealers, but they expressed confidence that the kinks will be worked out.

“The next few weeks are going to be a period in which we will be learning a great deal,” said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

In the meantime, “There will be delays and there will be problems,” McCausland predicted.

The law created by the so-called Brady Bill imposes a five-day waiting period while handgun buyers are subjected to background checks. Convicted felons, drug addicts and mentally ill people may not purchase handguns.

When someone seeks to purchase a gun, the dealer must send a form to the police chief in the town where the prospective buyer lives. Police have five days to complete the form or the sale goes through.

Maine State Police have compiled a computerized index of 185,000 people who have been charged with crimes over the past several decades. The list is being refined to weed out those who were not convicted, those who committed misdemeanors and others who are not considered felons, said McCausland.

The index will be available to police agencies across the state that must conduct background checks.

Local police also are being offered wider access to the National Crime Information Center’s statistics, said Chief Michael Chitwood of the Portland Police Department.

Checking applicants’ mental status and whether they are drug addicts may not be so easy, said Gary Adams, president and co-owner of the Kittery Trading Post, Maine’s largest gun dealer.

Adams said some police departments do not know exactly how they will run checks on handgun buyers, and dealers are not sure where to send forms for some people who live in rural areas.

Police agree there are a number of questions about the law. But many will be answered when the Maine Chiefs of Police Association runs a seminar later this month on how to implement the law, said the group’s executive director, Charles Jackson.

Police acknowledge that there is no statewide database listing mentally ill people, and no way to keep a record of who is a drug addict.

So police, when asked by dealers to check out applicants, will search criminal files for reports that indicate someone is mentally ill or addicted to drugs.

If the applicant challenges that assertion, police have 20 days to defend their conclusion, said Chitwood. And an applicant, if still dissatisfied, may appeal to the state Administrative Court.

The police department in Maine’s largest city has worked out a system for checking gun buyers’ backgrounds, said Chitwood. Still unclear, he said, is how many background checks the department will have to conduct.

“My only question is what are the real numbers,” the chief said.

Biddeford Police Chief Roger Beaupre plans to check his department’s own files and the FBI’s NCIC computer.

“I’ll be able to do a quick check, and unless it’s glaringly obvious, I’ll have to issue the permit,” Beaupre said.

Beaupre and Wells Police Chief William Zackular both said they doubt complete checks could be conducted within five days.

Some gun owners said the Brady Bill will only cause the private gun-sale market to flourish. Others said they are less concerned about the law’s immediate impacts than the tougher laws that may follow.

“Yeah, it’s an inconvenience, but no big deal,” said Paul Garland of Buxton. “If the Brady Bill were it, that would be one thing. But it’s just a foot in the door. They’re going to put it on us an inch at a time, so we’ve got to fight.”

Around Maine, there was a last-minute flurry of gun purchases just before the new law kicked in.

Michael Polakewich, owner of the York County Pistol Range, said he started getting calls on Saturday from people who realized the deadline was approaching. Polakewich said handgun sales were definitely up.


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