AUGUSTA — Lawmakers on Monday began reviewing a bill that would allow state employees to leave guns locked in their cars as long as they have a concealed weapons permit. 

The bill is designed to amend a hotly debated bill passed last year. That bill, LD 35, allowed private workers to keeps guns stowed in their vehicle. This proposal, LD 1603, sponsored by Rep. Dale Crafts, R-Lisbon Falls, would broaden the law to include state employees. 

The current proposal was introduced as an emergency bill. While it focuses on state employees, most of the testimony in front of the Legislature’s Criminal Justice Committee centered on the law enacted last year. 

The bill was sharply opposed by business advocates who argued that allowing employees to bring guns to work usurped employer rules that prohibit the practice. The debate that unfolded last year pit the U.S. Constitution’s gun owner rights against personal property rights. 

Peter Gore, representing the Maine State Chamber of Commerce, reiterated his organization’s opposition to the new law. Gore even suggested that lawmakers use the current proposal, LD 1603, as a way to repeal the law.

Gore didn’t hold out hope that lawmakers would. However, he said, the issue continues to be at the top of the list of concerns of his constituents. Gore said they simply cannot understand why the Legislature would take away private business owners’ rights to determine what was allowed at the workplace.

“The employers I’ve spoken to are universally opposed to the law,” Gore said. “Quite frankly many of them are angry about it.”

Gore added that it was ironic that the state was paying to increase security at the State House — a reference to recently installed metal detectors — while simultaneously loosening gun laws on state grounds. 

Rep. Gary Plummer, R-Windham, the House chairman of the committee, wondered why the testimony focused on a law that was passed last year. Plummer also rejected the argument that allowing more guns made anyone less safe.

“I’d honestly feel much safer if I knew other members of this committee were carrying concealed (guns),” Plummer said.

Gore acknowledged that there hadn’t been increased workplace violence since the new law recently took effect. However, he said, employers were on edge, “waiting for something to happen.”

Gore added that he didn’t want the issue to be about gun rights. It was, he said, about business owners wanting to control what happens at their businesses. He said that if an employer wanted to allow concealed weapons, they could. But if they wanted to prohibit them, they should be able to do that, too.  

“Employers want to choose what takes place on their private property,” he said. “Employers have now lost that choice.”

It remains to be seen if the debate over adding state employees to the law will be as tense as last year’s gun debate. 

John Peters, president of Down East Energy in Brunswick, spoke Monday against the bill. However, Peters’ comments focused more on the law that recently took effect. 

Bill Harwood, representing Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence, also spoke against the bill.

The National Rifle Association presented written testimony saying that “when the state allows employees to park on their property, the property rights of the state should not negate the constitutional right of self-defense for their employees.”

The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Garrett Mason, R-Lisbon Falls.

It’s unclear if the Republican majority will support the measure. The Legislature last year rejected a bill that would have allowed concealed weapons permit holders to carry guns in the State House.

[email protected]