AUGUSTA – A leading supporter of a proposed ban on assault weapons warned Monday that it was only a matter of time before someone is killed with one of the targeted guns.

But gun rights advocates told lawmakers that Sen. Ethan Strimling’s bill, LD 1579, would chip away at their constitutional protections and serve no useful purpose.

Strimling, D-Portland, told the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee that his bill would fill a gap left by the expiration of a federal assault weapons ban last September after being in effect for a decade.

He said seven other states have passed laws similar to his proposal, which also seeks to ban .50-caliber weapons and ammunition.

“What we’re trying to do is make the streets of Maine safer,” Strimling said. “It’s only a matter of luck people have not been killed” by weapons defined in his bill as assault-type.

Strimling said he welcomes refinements by the committee, including one to exempt a Maine company that makes the type of weapon his bill targets. The bill allows exemptions for police, military personnel and for antiques dealers and sanctioned competitions.

The Maine Chiefs of Police Association, Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence and Maine Million Mom March against violence were among those lining up in support of the legislation.

Leading the opponents was Rep. Richard Cebra, R-Naples, who said the expired federal assault weapons ban which Strimling is trying to extend in Maine was “a failed scheme” that the Legislature should not adopt.

Cebra also cited two studies that show that as private ownership of weapons increases, violent crime rates decrease.

Sen. Lois Snowe-Mello, R-Poland, warned against passing a law that would “chip away at our longstanding rights” or “before you know it we will have no rights.”

Jeff Weinstein, president of the Maine Gun Owners Association Inc., said there’s little difference between weapons restricted under Strimling’s bill and others that would remain legal, other than cosmetic variations such as the shape of gun stocks.

Weinstein said the bill is “illogically crafted” and “an affront to the extraordinarily law-abiding citizens of Maine.”