On its face, Maine’s citizen initiative referendum process has the look of pure, unadulterated democracy in its finest hour. After all, what could be more basic than a grass roots mechanism that allows citizens with a cause to take an important social question directly to the voters.

Like so much today within the political arena, all is not what it seems. The devil, as they say, is in the details. As the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine (SAM), David Trahan, pointed out in a column in the May issue of the Northwoods Sporting Journal, the petition process has been repeatedly misused and corrupted by cause-oriented Big Money from out of state. For example, according to Trahan, a professional Washington-based petition company hired by billionaire Michael Bloomberg, a staunch anti-gun advocate, spent $600,000 in Maine for paid, nonresident petition gatherers.

There has also been documented hanky panky with the way the referendum petition signatures have been notarized. Trahan writes: “Petitioners are regulated almost entirely on an honor system, and that is the problem. For instance, the people who notarize petitions are agents of the secretary of state, whose responsibility is to oversee elections. But, in referendum campaigns, petition companies are legally allowed to hire their own friendly notaries. This is the equivalent of hiring convicts to guard a bank vault.”

Thankfully last year, legislative steps were taken, with some success, to clean up the signature gathering process for citizen referendums. More corrective measures are expected to be forthcoming this legislative session.

Meantime, a national anti-gun organization is pushing for another Maine citizen referendum that would require Maine to establish state level universal background checks (UBCs) for gun sales and transfers. This is bad news. This measure would outlaw the private transfer of firearms, criminalize traditional behavior such as you selling a gun to a friend or loaning a gun to your neighbor to hunt. Furthermore, it requires that before you sell your family hunting rifle to a potential buyer you must go to a licensed firearm dealer, pay a fee, and await a UBC. If authorities make a mistake in the background check — which has happened many times — you not only won’t be able to legally sell your gun, you may not get the gun back!

According to a state gun rights organization, Gun Owners of Maine, there is a lot more here than meets the eye. ”This is a law that is designed to fail.” The group contends that this seemingly reasonable gun initiative is a precursor to mandatory national gun registration.

Fear is a powerful incentive. The recent Orlando night club horror plays into the hands of those who would curtail the right of law-abiding individuals to practice their Second Amendment rights. The Orlando killer was not stopped by his firearms background check.

Mainers, who are prepared to give up any Constitutional rights in the name of personal safety, need to read the fine print before they cast their ballot on the UBC question this fall.

The author is editor of the Northwoods Sporting Journal. He is also a Maine Guide, co-host of a weekly radio program "Maine Outdoors" heard Sundays at 7 p.m. on The Voice of Maine News-Talk Network (WVOM-FM 103.9, WQVM-FM 101.3) and former information officer for the Maine Dept. of Fish and Wildlife. His e-mail address is [email protected] . He has three books " A Maine Deer Hunter's Logbook", "Backtrack." And his latest “The Maine Angler’s Logbook.” .Online purchase information is available at www.maineoutdoorpublications.com..