Local police appear to have had enough information to temporarily seize the firearms belonging to Robert Card before he shot and killed 18 people in Lewiston, Maine, last month, the author of the state's "yellow flag" law told The Boston Globe.
Sen. Lisa Keim, the Republican Maine senator who authored the state's 2019 gun law that allows police to seize firearms from those who are deemed a risk to themselves or others, told the Globe that police appear to have had enough information to make use of the law, but stopped short of directly criticizing local law enforcement.
"This definitely appears like a case that the yellow flag process could have been utilized," Keim said in an interview that took place on Wednesday. "If the family, the son, and the ex-wife came and said, 'He's showing real signs of mental deterioration and mental distress,' at that point they could have acted on that and taken him into protective custody and had him evaluated."
She added that she didn't want to blame the local police for not seizing Card's weapons or taking him into custody without having more information.
"That's a judgment call that I feel like it would be unhelpful for me to make, without sitting down and having all the information in front of me," she said.
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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