Contact Joe Mullin, New England States Coordinator
In a victory for Maine’s sportsmen and women this past week, LD 1071, “An Act to Prohibit the Sale of High-Capacity Magazines,” was official defeated on May 28.
LD 1071 would have prohibited the selling or supplying of a “high-capacity magazine” from person to person. In this sense, “high-capacity magazine” was defined as “a firearm magazine, belt, drum, feed strip or similar device that is used to insert ammunition into a chamber of a firearm and that has the capacity of or can be readily converted to contain or accept more than 10 rounds of ammunition.”
The Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF), as well as several other national and in-state partners, submitted testimony against LD 1071, voicing concerns that this bill would have detrimental effects on the state’s conservation funding.
This bill would have classified a common factory standard magazine as “high-capacity,” thus restricting its sale in many circumstances. LD 1071 had the potential of placing a significant financial burden on the state’s sporting community. Its limitations severely undermined the secondary market for firearms, as numerous firearms are sold from the manufacturer with magazines that exceed the 10-round capacity.
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
