The Maine Senate yesterday quietly passed a bill that would prohibit private landlords who accept public housing vouchers from barring tenants from keeping guns. The National Rifle Association-backed bill was inspired by a resident who shot an intruder in his apartment; the property management company later told him he had to get rid of his gun if he wanted to live there.
The state's Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee had voted 8-4 against the bill, reports the Portland Press Herald, but there was no debate when it came in front of the Senate. The bill's opponents hope it will be killed in the Democrat-controlled House.
The bill is part of a national NRA campaign on behalf of gun owners in public housing. [PPH]
