Is this any way to run a democracy?

A bill came before the Maine Legislature this session (LD 1938, An Act to Protect Victims of Domestic Violence) that would have required that a person who obtained a protection from abuse order be informed if her (or his) abuser tries to purchase a gun from a licensed dealer (which is illegal anyway). The local law enforcement office in which the endangered person lives would also be informed.

Simple enough: It gives the threatened person further warning and more time to protect herself. The Criminal Justice Committee of our state agreed – unanimously – that the bill was a basic need and gave it an “ought to pass.”

A roster of VIPs spoke for the bill at the hearing: Public Safety Commissioner Mike Cantara and Maine Attorney General Steve Rowe both gave it a strong thumbs-up. Other proponents included the Maine Coalition to End Domestic Violence, the Maine Chiefs of Police Association and the Maine Sheriffs Association.

No one spoke against it!

LD 1938 then rolled merrily along through two readings by the Senate where it was quickly passed; then on to the House. It passed “unencumbered,” as they say, through the first reading and was on its way for final passage when out of the blue it

got tabled by Rep. Joshua Tardy, R-Newport.

Enter the National Rifle Association, ominously out of sight throughout the hearings and readings. Suddenly they wanted to add some last- minute amendments to the bill, amendments that had nothing to do with the content of the bill, amendments that had received no public hearings, that thus avoided the usual lengthy work sessions that

legislation is required to go through.

They had picked up their amendments from bills recently passed in Pennsylvania, bills that were the result of 10 years of negotiations, debates and discussions between and among that state’s domestic violence groups, sportsmen’s groups, and, yes, the NRA. Some of the issues had been debated for three years, yet the NRA had the chutzpah to saddle Maine’s little LD 1938 with a load of undiscussed and irrelevant stuff at the last minute.

Guess what? It worked! Enough easily manipulated legislators suddenly lined up with the NRA and defeated LD 1938.

Winners: the NRA. Losers: women and girls in danger of their lives from abusive partners.

Our legislators are certainly not listening to their constituents. Looks like it’s got to come from the grass roots, citizens, to stop the NRA from telling our legislators just when to jump.

So far, the legislators’ response is usually, “How high?”

Ellen Wells, formerly of Washington County, is a board member of Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence. Cathie Whittenburg is the group’s executive director.