PORTLAND — The City Council will consider a proposal to ask the state Legislature to ban guns in public buildings statewide.

Dan Skolnik and John Coyne, members of the council’s Public Safety Committee, voted Tuesday night to recommend adoption of the measure. The committee’s other member, Kevin Donoghue, was absent.

Skolnik, the committee chairman, said the proposal will be forwarded to the City Council for consideration.

A final vote will likely be taken at a council meeting in November, Skolnik said. If a majority of the council approves, lawmakers from Portland will be asked to submit a bill to the Legislature in January.

“What we are doing here tonight is only the first step,” Skolnik told the audience, which included several men wearing sidearms. “The City Council still has to bless what we are doing here.”

Skolnik, who proposed the resolution, originally wanted the state to ban all firearms from public buildings where mass gatherings are held. At Tuesday’s hearing, he said he would consider an exemption for people with concealed-weapons permits.

But the committee’s final vote deleted that exemption.

Skolnik said the stricter measure would provide greater safety in public places where there are large gatherings, such as City Hall, the Merrill Auditorium and the Cumberland County Civic Center.

Coyne noted that legislators have a measure of security while conducting business at the State House, where guns are not permitted.

“What a great time for us to be proactive, to avoid (a shooting),” Coyne said. “I think the actions we are proposing here are very reasonable.”

Gun advocates disagreed.

Shane Belanger, founder of the Maine Open Carry Association, said Maine’s low crime rate is related to the presence of a large number of guns, because criminals know citizens are armed.

“This ban is simply irrational and silly. It’s unnecessary,” Belanger said.

“I carry because I have taken responsibility for my own safety,” said Forrest Brown of Wiscasset, who described himself as a combat veteran. “This measure will do nothing to improve public safety. It will only degrade it.”

Norman Hamann of Lyman questioned how such a ban could be enforced or funded. He suggested the city would have to hire an armed security force equipped with metal detectors.

“I’d like to know what the real agenda is behind this legislation,” Hamann said. “The fact that I have a gun with me tonight is not making this room any more dangerous.”

Cathie Whittenburg of Portland spoke Tuesday night in favor of the ban, and submitted a letter to the committee, in which she wrote, “Guns in City Hall detract from an atmosphere of Democracy. Guns introduce an element of intimidation that is contrary to the open exchange of debate on controversial topics.”

Bill Harwood, an attorney for Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence, urged the committee not to exempt people with concealed-weapons permits from a statewide firearms ban.

Guns are prohibited in public schools and the State House, so why not other public buildings, Harwood asked.

He suggested that the ban be subject to local control, so communities could allow guns at public meeting places if they desired. “I think you’ll find that would meet with a much better reception in Augusta.”

 

Staff Writer Dennis Hoey can be contacted at 791-6365 or at: dhoey@pressherald.com

 

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