WASHINGTON – Gun control advocates are urging Maine Attorney General G. Steven Rowe to use an existing state statute to place safety measures on guns sold and purchased in the state.

The Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, which is best known for suing gun makers on behalf of shooting victims, launched a national campaign this week that urges 20 states, including Maine, to use consumer protection laws to control handgun ownership in the state.

According to the group, the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act gives Rowe broad authority to put restrictions on unfair or deceptive trade practices such as those that may be used to sell unsafe handguns.

The law is similar to one used in Massachusetts, which is being hailed as a success story when it comes to using consumer protection laws to impose handgun safety laws. Massachusetts became the only state to use a consumer protection statute in July 1999 when it banned the sale of cheap handguns and required safety locks and hard-to-pull triggers. Guns in Massachusetts must have built-in child proofs, be sold with a gun lock, and be marked with tamper-resistant serial numbers. Dealers selling the weapons must also provide a verbal and written safety warning from the attorney general.

The Center to Prevent Handgun Violence sent Rowe a copy of the report with information on how the state law could be used to make handguns safer.

“The attorney general is open to discussing any means of preventing the illegal dissemination of handguns,” said Charles Dow, a spokesman for the Maine attorney general, who was not aware of the center’s campaign. “I know the attorney general will be amiable to getting at illegal or dangerous handguns.”

Despite recent high-profile school shootings, the Maine Legislature has been resistant to gun control bills. One bill likely to get attention this year would bar people from possessing guns if they are the subject of temporary protection-from-abuse orders.

A spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association called the Prevent Handgun Violence campaign “ludicrous” because the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms already regulates handguns.

“What they have decided to try to do is convince the American public that firearms are not regulated, when in fact they are one of the most regulated products,” Patricia Gregory, an NRA spokeswoman said.