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Advocates: Expanded Background Checks Will Help Curb Domestic Violence Murders

The campaign attempting to strengthen background checks on Maine gun sales says the new law will help curb domestic violence murders committed with a firearm.

During a press conference at the State House Wednesday, supporters of Question 3 said 22 percent of the people who attempted to buy a gun over the last five years but failed their background check at license gun dealers did so because of a history of domestic violence.

But campaign manager David Farmer says those same people could easily buy a gun elsewhere because of a loophole in Maine’s law.

“But if you fail that background check, you can walk right out into the parking lot, pick up your phone and a copy of Uncle Henry’s or armslist.com online and find ads for that very same gun. And you can buy them without a background check and no questions asked,” he says.

Farmer says states that have passed laws similar to Question 3 have witnessed a 46 percent decline in women who were shot to death in domestic violence incidents.

Kimberly Hammill, a domestic violence prevention advocate, says the initiative could save women less fortunate than her mother, who survived her first husband’s threats to shoot her.

“Half of all murders in Maine are the result of domestic violence. But this isn’t just about the numbers. It isn’t about statistics. It’s about people, victims, survivors — people like my mother,” she says.

Journalist Steve Mistler is Maine Public’s chief politics and government correspondent. He is based at the State House.