0:00

The frontline dispatch is made possible

0:02

by the Abrams Foundation, committed to

0:04

excellence in journalism. and by

0:06

the Frontline Journalism Fund, with

0:08

major support from John and

0:10

support from John and Joanne Hagler. David of cell range

0:12

and helping a friend out of cell range, he

0:14

heard what had happened in Gah-Amoos, when he name.

0:17

said there's been a shooting in I said

0:19

what do you mean there's been a

0:21

there's been a mass shooting in Maine. been a

0:23

said to him in Maine. Well, I need to

0:25

get home. need I knew my phone would

0:27

be ringing. I knew that I knew I

0:29

needed to get back. Trahan leads the Sportsmen's Alliance

0:31

of Maine, or Sam. We the hear

0:34

Alliance of Maine, or

0:36

SAM. of the We

0:38

often hear about the power and influence

0:40

of the National Rifle Association in Maine, the

0:42

debate over guns. is uniquely gun

0:44

politics is uniquely local. the

0:46

state's long influenced the state's

0:49

approach to gun laws, regardless

0:51

of whether Democrats or Republicans

0:53

are in control. power comes power

0:55

comes from the state's culture of hunting

0:57

and fishing. fishing. in a firm belief Mainers

0:59

know how to handle their firearms.

1:02

There's a a culture there

1:04

that supports gun rights rights, and

1:06

politically, it it translates into how

1:08

people vote. half Nearly half

1:10

of main households own a firearm. year

1:12

Yet the year before there were there

1:14

were fewer than two dozen gun

1:16

-related homicides. But But after

1:18

Lewiston, that that sense of security was

1:20

withering. The The calls for gun

1:22

law reform came swiftly. and

1:25

Trahan changes were coming. coming.

1:27

Just four years earlier. He had

1:29

worked with Governor Janet Mills, a Mills, a

1:31

to craft a gun a that's unlike any other

1:34

in the country. other in the country.

1:36

Lawmakers fashioned the yellow flag law

1:38

in a way that would not upset

1:40

main gun owners. owners. While it provided

1:42

police a way to confiscate guns

1:44

if a judge decided someone was dangerous,

1:46

someone the process was neither quick nor

1:48

simple. quick it prioritized due

1:50

process over over speed. And lawmakers

1:52

here talked about it

1:54

as a transformative main solution

1:56

to American gun violence.

1:58

I believe with... all heart. that

2:01

this this bill will save lives. I think

2:03

this could become model legislation for

2:05

the rest of the state. the state.

2:07

Now, after the after the shootings,

2:09

the law was under a microscope. Groban,

2:12

a former a former federal prosecutor

2:15

with the a gun safety

2:17

coalition coalition, thought the law was a

2:19

decent compromise. but she came

2:21

to see it as deeply flawed. as deeply flawed.

2:23

I realize it was such a

2:25

missed opportunity. And that

2:27

the reason no other

2:29

state has followed yellow is because

2:31

because inadequate. inadequate. all those despite

2:33

all those warning signs we heard about

2:35

in earlier episodes, used the law wasn't

2:38

used to stop the there were even

2:40

though there were concerns that he had

2:42

been diagnosed with psychosis and was was making

2:44

threats. Trahan knew this as he knew this as he

2:46

tried to get an audience with the governor, and in

2:48

And in the coming weeks and

2:50

months, he and Maine's political leaders

2:52

would help shift the focus away

2:54

from the law's overall effectiveness and

2:56

toward the people who failed to

2:58

use it. who failed He says it. also

3:00

helped shape the shape modest response

3:02

to response to preserving Sam's standing as

3:04

a dominant power in the Maine

3:06

gun debate. in the main gun debate. In

3:08

In this episode, going going to trace

3:11

the rise and influence of a

3:13

gun rights group that was created

3:15

by the by to a TV a

3:17

program. program. We'll meet a former

3:19

Philadelphia cop cop. who tried in vain

3:21

to challenge the gun rights political

3:23

machine in Maine and will explain

3:25

why, even after the worst mass

3:27

shooting in state history, after law reform

3:29

has made notable in incremental progress. law

3:31

From main public radio, the

3:34

Portland Press Herald and frontline

3:36

PBS, this is Maine and

3:38

I'm Steve M - the Portland Press Herald,

3:40

controlled it PBS,

3:43

this is breakdown, and I'm

3:45

Steve Misler. Episode at

3:47

a young age it all. I grew up here

3:49

in up here in Maine. I

3:52

don't really have any experience

3:54

with hunting. hunting. I'm from Yarmouth,

3:56

Maine, and I'm just a

3:58

student. I live in... South Carolina.

4:01

and I and I have never held

4:03

a gun before. These kids ages 10

4:05

to 14 are attending the Bryant

4:07

These kids, ages 10 to 14,

4:09

are attending the Bryant foothills of White Mountains in

4:11

It's near the foothills of the

4:13

White Mountains in Western Maine. some form

4:15

This camp has been around in

4:17

some form for more than 50

4:19

years. Maine This is where parents

4:21

from Maine and other states send

4:24

their kids to get a hands -on

4:26

education about nature conservation, hunting,

4:28

and gun safety. The camp is

4:30

The camp is run by

4:32

the University of Maine Cooperative

4:34

Extension and instructors from the state

4:36

the State Inland Fisheries and here for

4:38

the firearms training. for the firearms

4:41

The kids and instructors are

4:43

assembled beneath a sheltered rifle

4:45

range, a with paper targets range with

4:47

paper targets downrange. Instructors Ronald Ronald Fournier, Gary

4:50

Prue, and Nichols Nichols unpacked a

4:52

series of of 22 rifles that

4:54

the kids will soon shoot. shoot.

4:56

many of them for the first time.

4:59

time. So moving a rifle, this

5:01

is a a basic 22 caliber rim fire, bolt action

5:03

gun, like the guns were going the guns were

5:05

going to be firing today. Nichols

5:07

goes over a goes over a detailed

5:09

list of instructions, to how to hold

5:11

their guns safely when not

5:13

shooting, how to determine their dominant

5:15

eye for aiming, and how to

5:17

operate different types of guns. types of

5:20

If you don't know what

5:22

the gun is, before somebody hands

5:24

it to you, what do you

5:26

do? what do? Ask. Exactly. You say, you You

5:28

say, I'm know what? sure how I'm not

5:30

sure how this gun works. me the

5:32

Can you show me the that's a

5:34

And that's a legitimate question. After about

5:36

40 After about 40 minutes of

5:38

instruction, it's it's time for the kids

5:40

to pair up in teams and

5:42

start shooting. and start shooting. The range

5:44

is hot. You can see that

5:46

one boy is can see that one boy

5:48

is nervous. he At one point, he

5:50

huddles on the side with one of

5:52

the counselors, but he eventually rejoins the

5:54

other kids on the firing line. firing line. The

5:57

The four kids start slowly loading a

5:59

a single round. in shooting. Go ahead

6:01

and fire you a Go ahead,

6:03

fire your second to smile when you

6:05

shoot. The smiles do come smile when

6:07

you shoot. more The smiles

6:09

do come, and the

6:11

kids seem more confident, more

6:13

and their shots become more

6:15

frequent. kid, the nerves are And

6:17

that nervous kid he The

6:19

nerves are gone by the time he finishes shooting.

6:22

a His reward, a big high

6:24

instructor Gary Prue. like that. Nice job, man.

6:26

Killed it. man. Safety supervisor Ronald has been watching

6:28

the boy, too. too. And when he came

6:30

up here here even stepped on the range,

6:32

he said, I don't think I can

6:34

do this. said, I And he said, I'm

6:36

not sure I'm gonna shoot. I said,

6:38

well, you're in a safe place. shoot.

6:40

Very well you're in a we're gonna go through

6:42

everything again. supported, and we're going And he was

6:44

a lot fun to step off the

6:46

range. was the last one to step off the

6:49

range. As I'm talking I'm talking to begin to

6:51

I begin to worry how this class kids

6:53

these kids might be viewed in the

6:55

context of a heated debate about guns in

6:57

the U .S. in the US. I grew up around

6:59

guns and hunting and took a similar

7:01

class as a kid. a kid. So to me, the

7:03

me, the shooting instructions seemed wholesome

7:05

in a a way to illustrate

7:08

how many manners view guns as an

7:10

extension of their self -reliance and

7:12

independence. To me, it seemed

7:14

no different than a camp a someone learns

7:16

how to swim how some other life skill.

7:18

other life skill. but as someone who covers politics

7:20

for a living. for I also

7:22

knew that this class might be viewed

7:24

by some by some sort of indoctrination

7:26

exercise. I I don't mention this

7:28

to to but he seemed worried about

7:31

that that too. He He tells me that

7:33

these courses are not meant to convert

7:35

kids into future gun owners gun even hunters.

7:37

I'm a firm believer that every every person

7:39

in this in this country should have an

7:41

education on firearms. on It's like sex

7:43

and drugs. If we don't educate folks

7:45

on what could happen, on then we tend

7:47

to see negative things happening. And

7:49

if you educate somebody

7:52

if you demystify guns, and

7:54

they inherently gain a

7:56

respect a respect ethic an ethic.

7:58

that is, you know, it's crucial. was the

8:00

experience for for Sigurd a a Springs

8:02

resident in her mid in her

8:04

who was observing the instruction. the instruction.

8:07

a former vegetarian who wanted to start

8:09

eating meat. eating And part of

8:11

that decision was a commitment to getting local

8:13

meat and trying to source it myself.

8:15

And so hunting seemed so of a natural

8:17

fit. kind of a natural had to

8:19

overcome her nervousness around guns. around

8:22

ended up taking a similar class for

8:24

adults. class for And like the kids, the her

8:26

discomfort around guns fell away away. as she

8:28

learned how to use them. them. Now,

8:30

Sibley owns a 20 gauge shotgun

8:32

that she uses to hunt hunt I'd

8:35

like to try deer this fall.

8:37

fall. had a turkey season under

8:39

my belt. my belt. She has joined

8:41

a constituency of She has

8:43

joined a constituency of nearly 200

8:45

,000 licensed hunters in the state.

8:47

That constituency is not monolithic. is

8:50

part of a is part of a growing movement

8:52

in the state. People who want to

8:54

source their own food. own food. It's so

8:56

big that three years ago, voters

8:58

amended the state the state to

9:00

include a food sovereignty provision. sovereignty For

9:03

many others, hunting is for

9:05

sport, for camaraderie. for And for

9:07

some, it's some, its survival. in

9:09

Maine is especially bad in rural

9:11

areas, and hunting puts food on the

9:13

table. puts food on the table. Guns

9:15

are the common thread in this are

9:17

the common thread in this tapestry of interests.

9:20

And that's precisely what David Trayhan,

9:23

Sportsman's Alliance of Maine, or or Sam

9:25

aims to represent. Gun rights

9:27

are a are a pillar of Sam's advocacy.

9:29

but its but it's strength on that front. arguably

9:32

comes from its understanding

9:34

of Maine's cultural identity and

9:36

traditions. and traditions. To that end,

9:38

Trahan, a a former logger and Republican

9:40

state legislator. is

9:42

a convincing spokesperson. spokesperson. Listen to

9:45

him talk about his first rifle. his first rifle, a

9:47

35 that he bought as a teenager.

9:49

a teenager. could not buy that gun

9:51

for me. me. I I have carried it

9:53

for I'm now 61 years old. carried carried

9:55

it my entire adult life hunting, some of

9:57

Some of the best memories I have

9:59

hunt. are contain that rifle. And the

10:02

same is true of all the

10:04

other guns that I own. Guns

10:06

that were gifted by friends and

10:08

loved ones. Those firearms don't represent

10:10

violence to me. They're like a

10:12

family airroom that has been passed

10:14

on to me. In this he

10:17

says, is the relationship that the

10:19

gun control side totally misses. When

10:21

you try to depict all firearms

10:23

as evil, as killing as... You're

10:26

missing the boat here. A lot of

10:28

those firearms mean something to people. And

10:31

when you come to take them, people

10:33

are going to defend their right to

10:35

keep them. Gun control groups reject the

10:38

assertion that their goal is to confiscate

10:40

gun owners' cherished heirlooms. But Treyhan's message

10:42

still resonates, and not just with Republicans.

10:45

The old joke, how many guns do

10:47

you own? Well, more than I need,

10:49

but not as many as I want,

10:52

you know, and I fall into that

10:54

category. I've got guns I haven't used

10:56

in 20 years, but I keep them.

10:59

Matt Dunlap is Maine's former Secretary of

11:01

State, a former state legislator, and a

11:03

sportsman. He once served on Sam's board,

11:06

and briefly, as its executive director, right

11:08

before Trahan got the job 13 years

11:10

ago. He's also a Democrat. And this

11:13

is why Maine's gun culture has made

11:15

its politics here so different. The conventional

11:17

wisdom is that Democrats have avoided confronting

11:19

Sam in the gun rights movement because

11:22

they fear an electoral backlash. And there

11:24

seems to be some truth in that.

11:26

But Dunlap is a reminder that many

11:29

Democrats here also believe in the group's

11:31

cause. They view it as a sort

11:33

of shield against punitive gun control measures

11:36

pushed by activists who don't understand guns.

11:38

We'd hear about these mass shootings and

11:40

we kind of held our breath because

11:43

it hadn't happened here. And now it's

11:45

happened here. And it's changed with the

11:47

conversation a bit, but the frustration I

11:50

think a lot of sportsmen who care

11:52

about these issues feel is that

11:54

people who sort

11:57

of lunge at these

11:59

proposed solutions really

12:01

don't understand the technology

12:04

they're talking about. Gun

12:07

owners the often argue that

12:09

gun control activists don't understand the

12:11

weapons they want to regulate. or

12:13

their place in a hunting culture

12:15

that's also faced scrutiny. understand

12:17

the weapons they want

12:20

to regulate or their place

12:22

in a hunting 1975

12:24

faced p .m. CBS

12:27

News broadcast a graphic 90 minute

12:29

documentary about hunting in America. in

12:32

America called The Guns of with

12:34

cameras and tape and tape recorders

12:37

close up, the annual hunting

12:39

of black hunting of Michigan dump. at

12:41

a Michigan dump. CBS said

12:43

CBS said the documentary purely

12:45

and simply a broadcast about

12:47

hunting. hunting, but that's not how many

12:49

hunters viewed it. viewed They saw it as an

12:51

attack on their way of life. of life. The

12:53

The network received thousands of angry

12:55

phone calls, and tens of

12:58

thousands of letters and postcards flooded

13:00

the CBS the CBS mailroom. And in

13:02

Maine, where there have been attempts

13:04

to ban hunting moose moose and bear baiting,

13:06

the organized. The The

13:08

Sportsman's Alliance of Maine or Sam was born out

13:10

of out of the backlash to

13:12

the documentary. Within a few a

13:14

few years, the National Rifle

13:17

Association was making a hard pivot

13:19

from its origins as a marksmanship

13:21

and safety organization to an unbending

13:23

defender of the Second Amendment. the

13:26

Second Amendment. Sam, meanwhile,

13:28

has has rooted itself more firmly

13:30

in Maine's hunting and outdoors

13:32

traditions. and outdoors fighting as hard

13:34

for land conservation as as it

13:36

does against gun control. as

13:38

it does against is especially

13:40

proud of the group's 100 is

13:43

education facility. of the just a

13:45

few miles from the

13:47

education have just a few miles

13:49

fishing. state We have miles

13:51

of trails, a shooting

13:54

range, fishing. Trapp, we have

13:56

dedicated areas to to trapper

13:58

our education yesterday. They held an

14:01

archery ethics course here, literally

14:03

3D targeting in the woods

14:05

with mapping GPS. Sam doesn't

14:07

always publicly take the same

14:09

positions as the NRA, but

14:11

it has adopted some of

14:13

the group's tactics. As Dunlap

14:15

notes, its candidate endorsements are

14:17

coveted in the main statehouse.

14:19

You know, when you're a

14:21

candidate for the legislature and

14:23

people don't know who you

14:25

are, if you've been endorsed,

14:27

for election by the Sportsmen's

14:29

Alliance domain and the National

14:31

Rifle Association, those sportsmen who

14:33

do not belong to those

14:35

organizations will still look at

14:37

that and say, hey, that

14:39

guy's good on my issue

14:41

and I'm going to support

14:43

them because of that. Sam's

14:45

influence stems from cultural association,

14:47

not political donations. Since 2013,

14:49

its political action committee has

14:51

only spent a little more

14:53

than $30,000 on advertising and

14:55

other materials to influence elections,

14:57

according to Maine Ethics Commission

14:59

data. Trahan also says Sam's

15:01

power exceeds its roughly 8,000

15:03

members. In its reach goes

15:05

further because of its connection

15:07

to Maine's abundant fish and

15:09

game clubs. More than 50

15:11

are part of the group's

15:13

coalition. Trahan says it's that

15:15

network of allies that gives

15:17

his organization influence with policymakers.

15:19

We're viewed as probably one

15:21

of the top strongest political

15:23

entities in the state. And

15:25

he's right. Sam has notched

15:27

a series of big political

15:29

victories. After a notable increase

15:31

in gun-related crimes in the

15:33

late 1980s, there were calls

15:35

for tougher restrictions on firearms,

15:37

but it also sparked a

15:39

counter-reaction from gun rights advocates.

15:41

And that's when Sam got

15:43

one of its first major

15:45

wins, with a big assist,

15:47

from a legend in Maine politics.

15:50

I can't tell you how many guns

15:52

I have, but I don't remember. For

15:54

nearly 20 years, from 1975 to 1994,

15:56

John Martin... Martin the the

15:59

of the of the of

16:01

Representatives. of And

16:03

during that time, he helped set

16:05

the legislative agenda for the agenda for

16:08

the state. a renowned parliamentarian who

16:10

ruled the main house with an iron

16:12

fist. with an iron also a

16:14

pro a pro-gun Democrat. And in 1986, a

16:16

state Supreme Court Court ruling gave him

16:18

a chance to strengthen Maynard's

16:20

gun rights. It confirmed confirmed that

16:22

while the bear bear arms was

16:24

protected under the the main it

16:26

it absolute. absolute. the state

16:28

could still impose some

16:30

restrictions. restrictions. and Martin worried worried the could

16:32

go even further. They really didn't

16:35

make a decision. a decision. was

16:37

a clear cut, but it became it

16:39

to me clear to me that at some some

16:41

point Court Court is going to rule.

16:43

against the the ability to

16:46

carry guns Maine. That was my was

16:48

my concern. that the time, that

16:50

section of the read, every Every

16:53

citizen has a right to keep and

16:55

bear arms for the common defense. defense. and

16:57

this shall never be questioned. Martin

17:00

was concerned about these four words.

17:02

words, for the common defense. So

17:04

in 1987, he 1987, bill he

17:07

drafted a bill that removed

17:09

them from the state constitution. Former

17:11

Democratic state Senator

17:13

John Tuttle read the Read the

17:15

revised version. during a a brief

17:17

debate in June of 1987. Every

17:19

citizen has a right to keep

17:21

and bear arms, and that right right.

17:23

never be questioned. the It sailed

17:25

through the was and was ratified by

17:27

main voters. by the end of by the

17:29

end of the would Sam would further

17:31

assert itself during a showdown with a

17:33

new sheriff in town. or in or in

17:35

this case, a a new police chief in

17:37

Maine's largest city. It's gonna sound kind of weird

17:39

to do this, but if you could just

17:41

say your name. but if you could what

17:44

you used to do

17:46

here in Maine. used to

17:48

do here in Maine. Michael Chitwood, C-H-I-T-W-O-O-O date.

17:50

And from August, I

17:52

believe, of 1988 August August

17:55

of 2005, of I

17:57

was the chief of

17:59

police Portland. Police Department. Michael Chitwood is now

18:01

80 years old, retired in Florida, and still

18:03

taking phone calls from reporters. He arrived in

18:05

Portland as one of the most decorated cops

18:08

in Philadelphia history. He was brash and charismatic,

18:10

and he gave great sound bites. The press

18:12

here dubbed him Media Mike. I used the

18:14

buzzword for bayers of death, but they're murderers.

18:16

They're animals. There's no other way to describe

18:18

it. It's a bum, he's a scumbag, he's

18:20

a dirtball, whatever you want to say. Chitwood's

18:22

swashbuckling approach to crime fighting made him an

18:25

instant celebrity, but his quest for gun control

18:27

quickly put him at odds with pro-gun house

18:29

speaker John Martin in the Sportsman's Alliance of

18:31

Maine and the NRA. I shouldn't learn him

18:33

to do that. They, in fact, were as

18:35

powerful as they are, and they controlled it

18:37

all. The stage was set for conflict as

18:40

soon as Chitwood walked into his new office

18:42

and noticed a foot-high stack of folders on

18:44

his desk. In fact, when I looked at

18:46

the pile, what the fuck is this? He

18:48

says his secretary explained that they were concealed

18:50

weapons permits for him to sign. So I

18:52

started to look through them, and I noticed

18:55

that there was no... background check, no check

18:57

at anything else, and they wanted me to

18:59

sign it. Yeah, back in Philly, you didn't

19:01

get a permit to carry a hidden gun

19:03

without a background check, but things were different

19:05

in Maine. There's no check. No check to

19:07

see if they're mentally ill, the check to

19:10

see if they're domestic violence abusers. Oh, nothing.

19:12

The conflict with gun rights groups intensified when

19:14

he continued to make a public case for

19:16

gun control and escalated further when he began

19:18

using a Portland local ordinance to crack down

19:20

on gun owners. They went absolutely later,

19:22

the legislature, with the

19:25

help of Speaker Martin,

19:27

enacted a sweeping law

19:29

that nullified all main

19:31

municipal gun ordinances, including

19:33

those with waiting periods.

19:35

But Chittwood continued to

19:37

find traction in the

19:39

media as he pushed

19:42

for gun reform. Martin

19:44

responded by creating a

19:46

special public safety commission,

19:48

and he invited the

19:50

police chief to join

19:52

it. The panel was

19:54

stacked with pro -gun

19:57

legislators. Six of them

19:59

were endorsed by Sam,

20:01

and some received campaign

20:03

cash from the NRA,

20:05

according to an investigative

20:07

news report at the

20:09

time. Personally, I think

20:12

that John Martin was

20:14

just trying to play

20:16

keep me by by

20:18

putting me on that

20:20

commission. It meant nothing.

20:22

Believe me, it meant

20:24

nothing. Because nothing came

20:27

out of it, right?

20:29

No, no, no, nothing

20:31

came out of it.

20:33

It was all it

20:35

was all bullshit. Excuse

20:37

my expression, but that's

20:39

what it was. It

20:42

was total bullshit. He's

20:44

got a big mouth.

20:46

Let's let's put him

20:48

on the commission. Chittwood

20:50

joined anyway. And after

20:52

five main kids were

20:54

accidentally shot to death

20:56

in separate incidents over

20:59

a five month period,

21:01

he proposed the law

21:03

penalizing parents who didn't

21:05

safely store their guns.

21:07

Martin turned it down. The

21:12

commission disbanded, and Chittwood's bid to

21:14

take his reform straight to main

21:16

voters never got off the ground.

21:18

Looking back, Chittwood says it still

21:20

bothers him that he was unfairly

21:22

portrayed as a gun -hating outsider

21:24

from Philly. I mean, even today,

21:26

I'm retired. I got guns in

21:28

my house. God forbid

21:30

somebody comes in, they're going to

21:32

get, they're going to, God bless

21:34

them. That's all I got to

21:37

say. Chittwood left the Portland Police

21:39

Department in 2005 and returned to

21:41

Pennsylvania. The

21:46

Sportsmen's Alliance of Maine and other

21:48

gun rights groups continue to flex their

21:50

political muscle. I had a front

21:52

row seat for one of its more

21:54

impressive victories. I was working for

21:56

the Portland Press Herald in 2013 when

21:58

a rival paper the Bangor Daily

22:01

News. to try to obtain

22:03

data about concealed weapons permits. David

22:05

Trahan was was sitting with me and

22:07

another reporter in our office at the state

22:09

at in Augusta. in and with just

22:11

a few keystrokes. I watched as

22:13

he activated a network of

22:16

gun rights activists against the against the

22:18

Bangor paper. next was a display

22:20

of activist power that I

22:22

had not witnessed before or since.

22:24

or since. The

22:28

The newspaper was soon swamped

22:30

with complaints and threats to

22:32

cancel subscriptions and advertising. subscriptions and asked

22:34

Treyhand about this over the

22:36

summer. this I warned summer. I warned him,

22:38

I to go the nice path and they wouldn't

22:41

listen. I knew it would wouldn't listen. my membership

22:43

I knew it would enrage

22:45

my membership to know that their

22:47

information was being used potentially

22:49

for political activity. Daily News said News

22:51

said it had no intent... of

22:53

publicly identifying permit holders holders.

22:55

it dropped its request

22:58

shortly thereafter. The The controlled

23:00

by Democrats, by passed a bill

23:02

that permanently sealed the records. sealed

23:04

Two years later, Two the legislature

23:07

enacted a law making it

23:09

easier to carry concealed it easier to carry

23:11

And in 2016, and in in

23:13

the NRA NRA teamed up to defeat a

23:15

referendum. that would have expanded

23:17

background checks. background checks. At

23:19

that point, At that point, gun

23:21

control activists were in the political

23:23

wilderness. But in the following

23:25

years, the rising public awareness of

23:27

American mass shootings. mass would begin

23:29

to shift main gun politics,

23:32

so So too a change in

23:34

the state's political leadership. leadership. I

23:36

therefore declare, and make known to

23:38

all persons who are on the

23:40

exercise of any public trust in

23:42

this state, as well as all

23:44

good citizens thereof, that Janet Trafton

23:47

Mills is governor and commander-in-chief of

23:49

the state of America. In

23:52

2018, former prosecutor and

23:54

state Attorney general Mills

23:57

was elected governor. governor. Gun

23:59

control was not central to her

24:01

campaign. But her election came on

24:03

the heels of several high-profile mass

24:05

shootings around the US. In a

24:08

matter of seconds a country music

24:10

festival turned tragic. A storm of

24:12

gunfire raining down. This deadly mass

24:14

shooting happened in Parkland Florida about

24:16

20 miles northwest of Fort Lauderdale.

24:19

Pretty much what we have here

24:21

is that this is a shooting

24:23

in the area of a synagogue.

24:25

The local CVS shooting prompted states

24:28

to start passing extreme risk protection

24:30

orders, better known as red flag

24:32

laws. They allow courts to temporarily

24:34

remove firearms from people considered to

24:36

be a danger to themselves or

24:39

others. Law enforcement and in some

24:41

states' family members can petition a

24:43

court to confiscate the weapons. As

24:45

Attorney General, Mills had already expressed

24:47

support for such a measure in

24:50

2018. I think it balances the

24:52

public safety without trampling on the

24:54

Second Amendment rights and without stereotyping

24:56

individuals with mental illness. The vast

24:59

majority of whom live fulfilling lives

25:01

without posing any threat to other

25:03

people. So by 2019, with new

25:05

Democratic majorities in the main legislature

25:07

and Mills as governor, gun control

25:10

activists were actually upbeat about their

25:12

prospects for reform. But when the

25:14

red flag bill surfaced for a

25:16

public hearing, Mills stayed neutral and

25:19

released a statement promising to find

25:21

common ground with stakeholders. It's important

25:23

to note here that Mills is

25:25

a moderate Democrat. She had campaigned

25:28

on restoring normalcy to state government

25:30

after eight chaotic years of her

25:32

Republican predecessor Paula Page, and she

25:34

has staked out middle ground positions

25:37

on touchy issues, including gun control.

25:39

So before the public hearing on

25:41

the Red Flag Bill, Treyhan reached

25:43

out to Mills directly. He wanted

25:46

to make sure Sam was part

25:48

of the discussion. We listened to

25:50

everyone. When there's a problem, we

25:53

would like to be a problem

25:55

solver, not a divider. So

25:57

Treyhan and Mills decided to work

25:59

with other interest groups to create

26:02

an alternative to the red flag

26:04

bill. The compromise they came up

26:06

with was so different from any

26:09

other red flag law, they dubbed

26:11

it a yellow flag law. Red

26:13

flag laws vary by state, but

26:15

most allow family members to directly

26:18

petition a judge to remove a

26:20

person's guns. None of them require

26:22

a mental health evaluation, as Maine's

26:24

yellow flag law does. In Maine,

26:27

police must initiate the process by

26:29

taking the person into protective custody.

26:31

and then a judge must agree

26:33

that the person is a risk.

26:36

Critics of the yellow flag law

26:38

argue that the process is burdensome

26:40

and saddles cops with too much

26:42

responsibility. So everyone's in the wrong

26:45

way. Former U.S. Attorney Margaret Groban

26:47

says the yellow flag process puts

26:49

police in the role of judging

26:51

a person's mental health before taking

26:54

them into protective custody. And in

26:56

the case of the Lewiston gunman,

26:58

that proved to be difficult and

27:00

dangerous. The police should be determining

27:03

dangerousness, the mental health professionals should

27:05

be determining mental illness, and that

27:07

determinations should stay in the mental

27:09

health commitment lane. But the spin

27:12

on this new approach was that

27:14

these additional steps, including the mental

27:16

health evaluation, were features of due

27:18

process, not barriers to seizing someone's

27:21

guns. And they were key to

27:23

winning Treyhan and Sam's backing, because,

27:25

as he often says, taking away

27:28

someone's second amendment rights, should be

27:30

a deliberate process. And that's what

27:32

he told Governor Mills. I talked

27:34

to her about, instead of red

27:37

flag, let's create something that will

27:39

face constitutional muster and give some

27:41

level of credibility to the gun

27:43

rights communities' concerns, which is due

27:46

process, which is ensuring the rights

27:48

can be restored and making sure

27:50

that elements like mental health and

27:52

professionals were involved. We did that.

27:55

Treyhan and Sam endorse the yellow

27:57

flag bill and its sale

27:59

through the main legislature. It

28:01

was It was hailed by and as

28:03

an exemplar of compromise, and

28:06

more than that, a a local solution

28:08

to the national problem of gun

28:10

violence. violence. And And that's the way

28:12

Trayhan views it today. today. Main

28:14

self-governed when it came when it came to that

28:16

policy, I'm proud of that fact. We We

28:18

didn't need the other state groups telling

28:20

us what to do, whether it was the

28:22

NRA it was the NRA or Michael Bloomberg's mom's demand

28:24

action. action. We said we can solve this problem and

28:27

we did. we did. But

28:30

but not everyone was thrilled with

28:32

the compromise. compromise. Trahan says he took

28:34

a a ton from within his own

28:36

ranks. own ranks. The rights community. threatened

28:39

petitions to have petitions, to have

28:41

me hosted as executive director. want me

28:43

not want me talking to anybody. want me

28:45

not want me talking to the I

28:47

mean, I mean, the mantra was you

28:49

can't trust Democrats. The main gun safety

28:51

coalition, a a local gun control

28:53

group, had reservations about the yellow

28:55

flag law. flag law, gave it

28:57

qualified support. support. As the the red

29:00

flag bill went down into down in defeat,

29:02

then state Senator one of its

29:04

sponsors. one of a prophetic

29:06

warning from the a prophetic warning

29:08

from the Senate floor. And while

29:10

we have been lucky so far

29:13

in Maine to not have experienced

29:15

a school or mass shooting, parents

29:17

and students that I speak with

29:19

and hear from, believe that it

29:22

is not a matter of if,

29:24

but when, unless something more is

29:26

done. Four

29:31

four years later on October 25th,

29:33

2023, 2023. fears came true. A mass

29:35

shooting occurred true. evening A

29:37

mass shooting occurred last evening in and

29:39

The number of dead and wounded

29:41

is unclear this morning. Police are

29:43

looking for a David Trahan raced home from

29:46

a home from a northern Maine hunting

29:48

camp to deal with a shooting fallout. And

29:50

as as he did, cracks already

29:52

seem to be appearing in the

29:54

bipartisan foundations of Maine's gun culture. culture.

29:57

A day after after the shootings,

29:59

democratic Congressman Jared

30:01

made a shocking apology. To the

30:03

families who lost loved ones ones

30:06

to those who have been

30:08

harmed, I ask for forgiveness and

30:10

support as I seek I seek to

30:12

put an end to these

30:14

terrible shootings. shootings. Golden, a

30:16

Marine Corps veteran with an

30:19

a rating with an A -plus rating

30:21

from he now announced that he

30:23

now supported banning assault rifles, like

30:25

the one used in the Lewiston

30:27

shooting. In in that brief moment. It

30:30

seemed like Golden's might spark a

30:32

cascade of other politicians

30:34

to shift their positions. But

30:36

it never it never happened. the

30:38

spotlight quickly the spotlight quickly

30:40

shifted to the gunman, and

30:42

why repeated warnings about his

30:44

diagnosed psychosis and threatening behavior failed

30:47

to trigger use of of yellow

30:49

flag flag law. Republican U.S. .S.

30:51

Senator Susan Collins had previously held

30:53

up the law as a model

30:55

for gun legislation. She she

30:57

stood right next to Golden during his

30:59

apology. and she stood

31:01

staunchly behind the yellow flag

31:03

she stood in fact, the

31:05

suspect was hospitalized for

31:08

two weeks for mental

31:10

illness, that should

31:12

have triggered the yellow flag

31:14

law and he should

31:16

have been separated from his

31:18

weapons. Yellow Flag Law, and

31:20

he should have been of focusing

31:22

on what made the law so hard to

31:24

execute. attention to

31:26

human error. error. And Trahan welcomed

31:28

the shift in scrutiny. It It

31:30

wasn't the system that people in

31:32

It was the people in

31:35

the system. said it yet publicly,

31:37

it yet publicly, become it would soon become

31:39

clear that same shared the same view. after

31:41

the Three months after the shootings, she

31:43

proposed tweaks to parts of the

31:45

yellow flag law, including protective custody

31:48

procedures. She She also

31:50

proposed expanding background checks. checks.

31:52

And Treyhan he told her Sam

31:54

would help modify the yellow flag the yellow

31:56

flag not oppose her

31:58

background check expansion. expansion. So what

32:00

I said to the governor was, because

32:03

we worked so hard on the yellow

32:05

flag law, we'll help you with that

32:07

component, but we insist that the red

32:09

flag law not passed, that was number

32:12

one, and that whatever we do, we

32:14

do not lower the new process standards.

32:16

So that was why we were engaged

32:19

in that, is we kept all those

32:21

due process standards in place, we made

32:23

improvements we could live with, and we

32:26

understood that the background check piece was

32:28

going to pass. Sam

32:32

stayed neutral on the governor's bill

32:34

and fought just about everything else,

32:36

including a red flag proposal that

32:39

conspicuously never received a vote in

32:41

the Democratic-controlled legislature. Public records requested

32:44

by Maine Public, the Portland Press

32:46

Herald, and frontline PBS, show that

32:48

Democratic lawmakers had significant interest in

32:51

pursuing a red flag law right

32:53

after the shootings. But they slow

32:55

walked the proposal after the governor

32:58

released details of her bill. I

33:00

recently asked her about that. Did

33:02

you tell legislative leaders that you

33:05

would veto a red flag proposal

33:07

that you opposed it? Or... I

33:09

can't speak for the minds of

33:12

individual legislators or individual caucuses in

33:14

the House or Senate, Democratic or

33:17

Republican, but I sent the message

33:19

that this is a package that

33:21

we've put together after significant research

33:24

and significant discussions across the board,

33:26

and this is the package that

33:28

I'm comfortable with. She

33:31

also dismissed the idea that Trahan

33:33

and Sam has more influence on

33:35

her gun proposals than other stakeholders.

33:38

But the governor has largely echoed

33:40

Trahan's all-out defense of the yellow

33:42

flag law. When we spoke in

33:45

September, she arrived with a printout

33:47

of all the times it had

33:49

been used since the shootings. 370.

33:51

That's more than once a day.

33:54

We're saving lives with the existing

33:56

law. And Mills has blamed individuals

33:58

for the tragedy. rather than

34:01

any failed policy. At its

34:03

core. this This tragedy was

34:05

caused by a colossal failure

34:07

of judgment by by

34:09

several people on several occasions.

34:12

a profound profound

34:14

negligence. rightly the

34:16

commission rightly stated. of was

34:19

an abdication of

34:21

responsibility. gun control Meanwhile, are

34:23

gun control groups are not waiting for

34:25

mills in the main legislature to pass

34:27

a red flag flag law. They they recently

34:29

announced, they're organizing in hopes of

34:31

getting a red flag proposal on

34:33

the ballot. proposal on the ballot. In take

34:36

a look at how take a father

34:38

is making gun control legislation a

34:40

new mission. legislation a new

34:42

mission. Trahan and Sam will

34:44

be ready. Maine's be ready. voice

34:46

preeminent voice in the

34:48

gun debate just just as influential

34:51

and powerful as it

34:53

was before Lewiston tragedy. And although he

34:55

took an unexpected loss when the the allowed

34:57

a three a waiting period to purchase

34:59

guns to become law without her signature.

35:01

law without her and gun rights groups

35:03

have followed through on their promise

35:05

to challenge its constitutionality. its

35:08

constitutionality. There There is, however,

35:10

hope for supporters of gun reform. Congressman

35:13

Jared narrowly won re

35:15

-election after a barrage of

35:17

attack ads that framed his shift on

35:19

an assault weapons ban as a

35:21

a betrayal. And while Trayhan vowed to

35:23

hold the politicians who voted for

35:26

the voted law accountable in the 2024

35:28

election. the 2024 election, managed to

35:30

hold control in the legislature. in the

35:32

legislature, smaller majorities. All

35:35

of that All of that has left

35:37

a murky forecast for the future of

35:39

Maine's gun politics. Will the Will the

35:41

urgency left by the shooting reverberate beyond

35:43

this year, has or has the focus

35:45

on individuals and their inaction before the

35:47

tragedy? undercut the impetus

35:50

for systemic reform. reform? No

35:52

matter what happens, gun rights activists

35:55

will use a a -tested

35:57

playbook, leveraging Maine's gun

35:59

culture... against efforts for change.

36:01

for change. Four of the 18

36:03

people killed and some of the

36:05

13 of the 18 people killed

36:07

and some of the 13 injured

36:09

night shootings that night the I

36:12

felt the the bar, the the

36:14

bar, the the glasses at

36:16

the bar confused. I saw the And

36:18

I was confused. out I saw the

36:20

bullets coming out of the gun. it's

36:23

the believe it's the deadliest mass shooting

36:25

of deaf people in the U .S. the US.

36:27

The The pain of that loss was

36:29

magnified as the community of deaf and

36:31

hard of hearing struggled for access to

36:33

information. to These people live in

36:35

our community, they live in

36:37

our towns, towns. this is a

36:40

critical time and access is important.

36:42

This is because deaf people are

36:44

chronically overlooked in public policy,

36:46

procedure and public safety practice. To assume

36:48

that deaf people are not

36:50

present in spaces is to to continue

36:52

to practice the social erasure

36:54

of deaf of deaf lives. That's

36:57

time time, on Breakdown. Breakdown

36:59

is a collaboration between

37:01

Main is a collaboration

37:03

between main public radio, the Portland

37:05

Press Herald, and PBS, PBS with

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support from Rock Creek Sound. are

37:10

Susan are Susan Miller, Kevin

37:12

Miller, and The White. is

37:14

Emily is Emily The show

37:16

is edited by The show is edited

37:18

by Ellen Weiss Our Keith Schordahl. producers

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are Mark Producers are Aaron Texera

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and Aaron Texera. Sound Design and

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37:28

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37:30

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37:32

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37:36

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37:40

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37:43

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37:45

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37:47

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is produced through local Journalism initiative.

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which is funded by by

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S. and James L. Knight

37:56

Foundation. For an upcoming upcoming video

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translation of the pot an in

38:00

American Sign Language, go to

38:03

to .org. For

38:05

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38:07

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38:09

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