Maine’s “yellow flag” law couldn’t be enacted against Lewiston’s mass shooting suspect, Robert Card, 40, of Bowdoin, despite his recent threats to “shoot up” a Saco military base.
According to the Bangor Daily News, Card’s two-week stay at a hospital for psychiatric treatment in July occurred in New York, where the “yellow flag” law doesn’t apply and couldn’t be transferred over when he returned to Maine.
It is unclear if the law would have applied to Card if he had been mentally evaluated in Maine.
CBS 13 reports that Card legally purchased the gun he used in the shooting at a Maine gun store 10 days before he was ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment after military officials became concerned for Card’s erratic behavior.
Card was an army reservist training at a military academy in New York over the summer when he started reportedly hearing voices and having thoughts of hurting others and conducting an attack.
Maine’s “yellow flag” law, enacted in 2020, is designed to confiscate guns from anyone believed to be a threat to themselves or others. Police, however, have found the law difficult to use because it requires the approval of both a medical professional and a judge in order to restrict an individual’s rights to a firearm up to a year.
Card’s body was found in Lisbon Falls Friday night, concluding a two-day manhunt for him. Maine Department of Public Safety Commissioner, Michael Sauschuck confirmed Card’s cause of death as an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.
