Following the tragic mass shooting at a bowling alley and bar in Lewiston, Maine enacted important improvements to its gun laws. However, there are still basic gun safety measures which are missing, putting Mainers at grave risk.
Maine’s 2024 reforms include expanding background checks, implementing a 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases, and making improvements to the state’s “yellow flag” law. However, the state still lacks fully universal background checks and a true “red flag” law, or Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) law, and continues to allow the sale and use of bump stocks and similar devices that make guns even deadlier. Additionally, Maine passed a reckless permitless carry law in 2015 that allows residents to carry loaded, concealed handguns in public without a permit or background check.
In 2022, Maine had the eleventh lowest gun death rate among the states. In an average year, 166 people die from gun violence in the state. That means that someone dies from gun violence every 53 hours. Eighty-nine percent of those deaths are gun suicides, and 8% are gun homicides.
What Maine Does Well
- Mental health record reporting
- Child access prevention law
- Waiting periods
What Maine Is Missing
- True universal background checks
- Gun owner licensing
- Extreme risk protection orders
- Most domestic violence gun laws
- Assault weapon restrictions
- Large capacity magazine ban
- Concealed carry permit
- Open carry regulations
- Gun industry accountability
SPOTLIGHT
GUN LAW SCORECARD
The data is clear: states with stronger gun laws have less gun violence. See how your state compares in our annual ranking.
Read MoreEXPLORE MAINE’S GUN LAWS
WHO CAN HAVE A GUN
OWNER RESPONSIBILITIES
CHILD & CONSUMER SAFETY
GUNS IN PUBLIC
HARDWARE & AMMUNITION
OTHER LAWS & POLICIES
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We’re in this together. To build a safer America—one where children and parents in every neighborhood can learn, play, work, and worship without fear of gun violence—we need you standing beside us in this fight.
