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Heinrich joins Maine senator on gun bill
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A gunman in Lewiston, Maine, last month killed 18 people in a mass shooting while using a high-powered rifle that had been modified to shoot as quickly as possible.
Independent Sen. Angus King of Maine said earlier last week the tragedy stressed to him the importance of ongoing work he has been doing with Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., to regulate certain firearms that are particularly lethal.
King and Heinrich have worked together on similar bills for years and recently introduced the latest version, which seeks to regulate certain types of firearms and make it illegal to make them fire or to be reloaded rapidly.
鈥淚f I had any doubts, they were resolved by what happened,鈥� King said in an interview with the Journal. 鈥淭he shooter in Lewiston had a high-capacity magazine, duct-taped together, that could be (quickly reloaded). That鈥檚 what would be prohibited by this law.鈥�
Heinrich said he started working on the bill years ago, in part, because his children grew up making great memories with guns during hunting trips, and they also learned active shooter drills in school.
鈥淚f kids and teenagers can separate that, policymakers ought to be able to,鈥� he said.
The bill would regulate rifles and shotguns that can fire more than 10 rounds before reloading and handguns that fire more than 15 rounds. It would also prohibit machine gun conversion devices and other modifications that make the guns more deadly.
The bill specifically exempts several types of firearms from any regulation, including breach-loading and smooth-bore rifles or handguns. A .22-caliber rifle or a bolt-action rifle would also be exempt, for example.
鈥淭he key is that this bill is not aimed at a particular weapon. It鈥檚 aimed at the lethality based upon the magazine size,鈥� Heinrich said.
The bill would also 鈥済randfather in鈥� all currently owned guns, though those gun owners would be restricted on to whom they could sell the weapon, King said.
鈥淲e were very careful to craft this pragmatically to stand up to the Supreme Court we have today,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e reviewed all of the the appropriate case law and tried to stay on the safe side of that line. And also, frankly, gun-rights folks, of whom there are many in Maine, are very much attune to the idea of confiscation, and this bill is very clearly not that.鈥�
