In Maine, the Governor signed suppressor, (gun muffler, silencer) reform into law. The change in law took effect on 8 June, 2021. It is now part of Chapter 112, Public Law.
When the Maine legislature reformed Maine's ban on hunting with suppressors, the law required a hunter to obtain a special permit to hunt with suppressors. It was an added bureaucratic burden which did not good. It increased useless paperwork and wasted everyone involved's time.
Here is how the old law read. From mainlegislature.org:
2. Permit. In accordance with this subsection, the commissioner may issue a permit to a person allowing that person to use a noise suppression device with a firearm when hunting any wild animals or wild birds the person is licensed to hunt under this chapter and for which use of the firearm is allowed or for the purpose of killing a wild animal or wild turkey under section 12401 or 12402.A. A person applying for a permit:(1) Shall show proof of lawful possession of the noise suppression device; and(2) May not have had a hunting license revoked as a result of a serious hunting violation. [PL 2015, c. 262, §1 (NEW).]B. A permit is valid unless revoked under this section. [PL 2017, c. 366, §1 (AMD).]
The reform of removing the requirement of a special permit to hunt with a suppressor in Maine is a classic example of incrementalism.Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:Sec. 1. 12 MRSA §10902, sub-§6-A is enacted to read:6-A. Mandatory hunting license revocation when using a suppressor. The commissioner shall suspend a person's hunting license for at least 3 years if that person is convicted of any violation listed in subsection 6 and found to have been in possession, at the time of the offense, of a firearm with a device used to suppress or deaden the sound or natural report of the firearm.Sec. 2. 12 MRSA §11161, as amended by PL 2017, c. 366, §1, is repealed.Sec. 3. 12 MRSA §11214, sub-§1, ¶C, as amended by PL 2015, c. 262, §2, is repealed.
The next reform might be to remove the requirement for a Federal Suppressor Tax Stamp, as was recently done in Texas. The Federal NFA tax stamp requirements make far less sense than did the Maine permit for using a suppressor while hunting.
Suppressors, gun mufflers, silencers are part of the weak underbelly of the National Firearms Act. Regulation of them never made any sense. They were just part of the Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) administration's power grab to place firearms under federal jurisdiction.
It seems, even in the FDR administration, it was only Homer Cummings, the progressive Attorney General ideologue, who pushed hard for federal gun control. When he was gone, the push for gun control stopped for over 20 years.
©2021 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch
There has never been any constitutional authority for government , state or federal, to regulate civilian arms, use, possession or related devices and necessary supplies. The right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed. any law or regulation is an infringement by definition. The framers gave us the second amendment to prevent the government from evolving into tyranny and the second amendment is the citizens authority to remove a tyrannical government by force of arms. An armed citizenry is insurance to prevent tyranny. The right to hunt is merely a benefit of the second amendment to feed your family. By right of eminent domain we have the right to live off the land any where in this country. Hunting license are an unconstitutional infringement. At the time the constitution was ratified most firearms were home made. any thing the government buys with our tax money is owned by the citizens the government just manages those things it buys for us. Any weapon a citizen chooses to carry for defense is protected by the second amendment because there is no written definition of what arms are. Dumb ass Americans had better wake up. The constitution was written for the citizens to control government not for the government to control the citizens. We are a constitutional republic not a democracy as the liberals would have you believe. The constitution was written to be enforced as written and is not permitted to be interpreted. Only the actual word written were ratified and are required to be enforced as written. Opinions of what liberals would like it to say are not enforceable law. The USSC must work with the words actually ratified without interpretation or opinion.
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