Maine

It's good to have options.  

The FBI has not yet asked Maineýs major colleges and universities to hand over personal information about foreign students and teachers. But if it does, it will get answers ranging from a qualified ýOKý to ýnot without a court order.ý And some schools donýt know what theyýd say.

Always a popular topic in Augusta, the right of citizens to keep and bear arms is again on the legislative agenda, but most of the ideas miss the mark. Several bills have been introduced that aim to loosen existing gun-control laws in Maine, but the need for some of these changes is not entirely clear, even to groups that typically champion unfettered gun ownership.

This is a remarkably even-handed summary of legislative proposals regarding firearms within Maine. It still falls on the anti-gun side of the equation, but actually makes a rational attempt to explain the objections rather than screeching about "the children".

For the record:

• Domestic violence victims shouldn't get special treatment; if they don't need a permit neither does anyone else.
• Repealing the concealed-carry law entirely (resulting in Vermont-style permitless carry) would be sensible but is likely too controversial to have a real chance.
• Appeals to the state police for refused permits make sense.

Officials plan to put information about the state´s 1,200 registered sex offenders on the Internet to allow residents to easily determine if a convicted offender lives in their neighborhood.

The Department of Public Safety plans to launch the online sex offender registry on Monday.

The Legislature instructed the department to have a site up and running by the end of the year after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that such Internet registries do not infringe on sex offenders´ constitutional rights.

This one comes back to the basic issue of what happens to a criminal once they have "served their time". There are basically three options:

1. Allow full restoration of rights, including privacy, upon release.
2. Use registries like this one to "keep an eye on them" (in a manner similar to a criminal on probation).
3. Do not release those deemed liked to commit additional crimes if released.

   The problems with each proposal should be obvious. If you allow full rights, some will likely commit new crimes (and the rate for sex offenses is supposedly very high). If you use "sex offender registries" then you are taking an active measure that will likely prevent the criminal from ever having a normal, successful life; in other words, while you are making sure that potential victims are aware of the criminal's history (if they bother to check), you are also increasing the rate of recidivism by denying non-criminal activities. And if you simply keep them locked up once their sentence has been served, you've suddenly moved into the realm of locking people up for what they might do; thoughtcrime.

   I don't know what the answer is, but I'm not sure I like any of them.

The Fifty Caliber Institute warns us that Maine is considered a .50 ban that would not only ban future purchases, but also confiscate existing firearms and ammunition:

In the interim, the state of Maine began its movement towards not only banning ownership and manufacture of .50 caliber rifles, but of owning .50 caliber ammunition as well.  Even reloading your own casings is prohibited!  The proposal calls for confiscation without compensation.  Believe it or not, this piece of legislation is actually WORSE than California and Illinois.

Their bill, LD-1579, is in the Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety.  If you're from Maine, please contact your legislators IMMEDIATELY to prevent this piece of legislation from making you into a criminal overnight.

If you're a Maine resident, please contact your legislators  and tell them you oppose banning guns and ammunition, including the .50 rifles.

I reported earlier on an "assault weapons ban" in Maine that would have banned and confiscated so-called "assault weapons" in that state, including just about any semiautomatic rifle and all .50 caliber rifles.  It looks like that legislation has been defeated in committee.