Maine’s deadliest shooting spurs additional gun control proposals

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — Democrats in the Maine Legislature unveiled sweeping gun violence measures on Wednesday including a 72-hour waiting period for most gun purchases, adding to firearm bills and mental health spending already proposed by the governor after the deadliest shooting in the state history.

Senate President Troy Jackson said lawmakers are not interested in taking away guns but they do want to seek consensus on ways to prevent gun violence following the shooting that claimed 18 lives.

“There has to be a way for level-headed people to come together and figure out a way that could possibly stop, or make it harder, for anything like this to happen again,” he said.

The suite of bills would expand spending on mental health, create mobile crisis centers and give 911 callers the option of connecting with mental health crisis workers as well as law enforcement. They would also ban bump stocks or other physical modifications that can transform a semiautomatic rifle into a machine gun.

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Some of the proposals received a