I think that gun owners and non-gun owners alike, can agree that it is in everyone’s best interest to keep firearms out of the hands of criminals and individuals who are prohibited by law from owning or using firearms. That’s why it is already illegal to sell firearms to “prohibited persons” under current laws, regardless of whether the sale is through a licensed gun dealer or not.

If you sell a gun to a “prohibited person,” you are breaking the law and could be considered a criminal. My point is that only criminals sell guns to criminals. Passage of Referendum Question 3 wouldn’t change that. Criminals are lawbreakers and there is no reason to think passing a new law will convert them into law-abiding citizens.

The proposed law also reaches beyond sales to transfers and would prevent law-abiding citizens from doing the following without conducting a background check every time these activities are conducted: teaching a family member how to shoot using your rifle; lending a shotgun to a friend so they could go duck hunting; letting your spouse drive a vehicle with your rifle locked in the trunk; allowing a licensed instructor to use your firearm so they can demonstrate safe usage and storage; carrying a rifle from the car to the camp for a friend because his hands are full; and so on.

It seems clear that the law is written poorly and creates undo burdens on everyday Mainers without stopping sales that are already illegal under Maine law.

Evan Cyr, Auburn