An Act To Promote the Safe Use and Sale of Firearms

Sec. 1. 15 MRSA §394  is enacted to read:

§ 394.  Sale or transfer of firearms to prohibited persons; strict liability

§ 395.  Sale or transfer of firearms to prohibited persons; culpable mental state

Sec. 2. 15 MRSA §455, sub-§2,  as enacted by PL 2003, c. 452, Pt. H, §1 and affected by Pt. X, §2, is amended to read:

SUMMARY

This bill creates the civil violation of the sale or transfer of a firearm to a prohibited person and strict liability Class E crime for a 2nd or subsequent offense of selling or transferring a firearm to a prohibited person. The bill also creates an affirmative defense to prosecution under this new civil violation and crime that the seller or transferor of the firearm requested a federally licensed firearm dealer to conduct a computerized background check under the Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Instant Criminal Background Check System on the purchaser or transferee prior to the sale or transfer of the firearm and the background check indicated that the purchaser or transferee was not a prohibited person.

It creates the Class D crime of the sale or transfer of a firearm to a prohibited person. A person is guilty of this crime if that person intentionally or knowingly sells or transfers a firearm to another person that the seller or transferor knows or believes is prohibited from possessing a firearm.

It increases the fine from $50 to $1,000 for the civil violation of giving a false or fictitious name to a firearms dealer and makes the fine mandatory.