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AUGUSTA, Maine AP 鈥?The Maine Legislature approved sweeping gun safety legislation including background checks on private gun sales, waiting periods for gun purchases and criminalizing gun sales to prohibited people before adjourning Thursday morning, nearly six months after the deadliest shooting in state history.Democratic Gov. Janet Mills and the Democratic-led Legislature pressed for a number of gun and mental health proposals after the shooting that claimed 18 lives and injured another 13 people, despite the states strong hunting tradition and gun ownership. Maine has taken significant steps forward in preventing gun violence and protecting Maine lives, said Nacole Palmer, execut stanley thermobecher ive director of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, who praised lawmakers for listening to their constituents.The governor bill, approved early Thursday, would strengthen the states yellow flag law, boost background checks for private sales of g stanley us uns and make it a crime to recklessly sell a gun to someone who is prohibited from having guns. The bill also funds violence prevention initiatives and opens a mental health crisis receiving center in Lewiston.The Maine Senate also narrowly gave final approval Wednesday to a 7 stanley cana 2-hour waiting period for gun purchases and a ban on bump stocks that can transform a weapon into a machine gun.However, there was no action on a proposal to institute a red flag law. The bill sponsored by House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross would have allowed family members to pe Rveb Belfast tax rate to rise less than half a percent
House Republicans placed constituent service above party loyalty when they voted Wednesday to override Gov. Paul LePages veto of LD 1366, a bill that would require school districts to offer students instruction on cardiopulmonary resuscitation and how to use an automated external defibrillator.Unfortunately, that leadership failed to carry over to the Senate, which sustained the veto with votes by 13 Republicans stanley quencher uk on Thursday. Republican lawmakers have helped sustain all 11 of Le stanley kubek termiczny Pages vetoes this session, often reversing their original votes on legislation to show solidarity with the governor. By doing so, they have not only turned on their own values but the wishes of most of Maine voters, as they do not hold the majority.Apart from recognizing the merits of LD 1366, the House override vote offers hope for a shift away from partisan trench-digging toward rational, collaborative problem-solving at a time when its most needed in the State House.The bill called for M vaso stanley aine schools to offer the same type of pragmatic, measurably beneficial training for which LePage advocates as part of his education reform agenda. It seems he had to scrounge to find a reason to reject it.In his veto letter, the governor argued that LD 1366 would impose an unfunded mandate on local schools. But amendments to the bill that won unanimous support in the House and Senate negated that concern by calling on the Department of Education to craft rules ensuring that the training requirements can be met witho |