When Maine’s “constitutional carry” law took effect last year, the sponsor of the bill, state Sen. Eric Brakey, R-Auburn, issued the following statement:

“Maine has a strong tradition of supporting the Second Amendment and today is a great milestone in that tradition.

“The passage of constitutional carry was a bipartisan effort, and Mainers can rest assured the Legislature supports their right to bear arms.

“As the law goes into effect, however, it is important to note that constitutional carry does not change who may carry a firearm, it does not change what kinds of firearms may be carried, nor does it change where firearms may be carried.

What it does do is allow law-abiding Maine citizens to exercise their Second Amendment rights without jumping through bureaucratic hoops.”

Am I to infer that “constitutional carry” means that any Maine citizen can now do his own memory check to see if he considers himself to be qualified to carry a firearm?

If the citizen becomes involved in a discussion with police, will he have nothing to show the officer? And will the officer then have the option of running his own background check on the subject to see if he should take the subject’s word for his legal authority to carry a weapon?

Sounds complicated and time-consuming. The onus should be on the person wishing to carry a weapon, not the officer. As for the citizen still having the option to apply for a concealed-carry permit to use in other states, that may be a limited benefit.

Some states and cities are talking about not automatically accepting concealed-carry permits from other jurisdictions that may have more lax requirements until there is a federal standard for issuing such permits.

Harvey Versteeg

Augusta

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