Yesterday, February 29, was the deadline for interested parties to dispute the signatures submitted for the Bloomberg gun control ballot initiative. Bloomberg’s paid petition gatherers submitted more than 84,600 signatures, 65,821 of which were deemed valid by the Secretary of State’s office — more than the 61,123 threshold required for ballot placement. Despite the fact that nearly 19,000 signatures collected were invalid, the Bloomberg gun control initiative will move forward. The Bloomberg petition will now be presented to the Maine State Legislature. If the measure is not adopted by the legislature without change, the law is placed before voters in November. As previously reported, if enacted, this initiative would criminalize virtually all currently legal private transfers. Please contact your state Representative and state Senator and ask them to vote against Bloomberg’s gun control initiative when it comes before the legislature! Please click the “Take Action” button below to contact you state legislators!
Despite the rhetoric, this radically misguided ballot initiative will not reduce crime. As seen in Oregon and Washington, this initiative is another attempt by former New York City Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg to push his big city style gun-control on law-abiding gun owners in Maine.
Currently, it is illegal to knowingly sell a firearm to someone who is a prohibited person. Likewise, it is a felony for a prohibited person to buy, own or possess a firearm. However, this initiative seeks to make drastic and unnecessary changes to current laws that will place excessive restrictions on law-abiding citizens rather than addressing the true problems associated with straw purchases and the lack of enforcement of current laws.
This initiative would do nothing to prevent criminals from breaking the law and getting their hands on firearms. Criminals will continue to use the black market, straw purchasers and theft in order to obtain firearms. This initiative would only turn law-abiding gun owners into criminals. Simply loaning a firearm to a friend could turn a law-abiding gun owner into a criminal overnight.
According to a Department of Justice report from January 2013, laws like this would be entirely unenforceable without requiring a full gun registration. With limited resources, this deeply flawed initiative would simply place a burden on law enforcement.
Don’t let Michael Bloomberg and his “out-of-touch” bank account control your state and its politics! We urge you to contact your state Representative and state Senator and ask them to vote against Bloomberg’s gun control initiative. Let them know that your state can’t be bought and sold by a billionaire from New York City!
Your NRA-ILA will continue to update you on any further developments of the Bloomberg gun control initiative.
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