Maine Just Got Safer

On Tuesday, voters in Maine approved a red flag law via ballot measure. The law will make it easier for family members to request an Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO), which temporarily restricts a person’s access to firearms when they are deemed a risk to themselves or others.

The law comes after a mass shooting at a bowling alley in 2023, in which 18 people were killed and 13 more injured. The investigation that followed concluded there were multiple opportunities for intervention. But Maine’s “yellow flag law,” in place at the time, failed to prevent the tragedy.

Many shooters talk about their plans or raise alarms with family and friends, and interventions in those cases can be life-saving. There is strong evidence that ERPOs are effective at preventing gun related homicides and suicides, and our research shows that they are supported by the vast majority of gun owners. We also found that when gun owners learn that these laws incorporate due process provisions like a timely trial and the subject’s right to present evidence, support rises as high as 81 percent.

Maine voters made the right call this week.