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Floor Speech

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Ms. COLLINS. Madam President, I rise today to introduce the Armed Forces Crisis Intervention Notification Act.

This legislation is in response to the October 25, 2023, tragedy in Lewiston, ME. On that day, 18 Mainers were killed and 13 injured during the worst mass shooting in Maine's history. For 2 days, Lewiston and the surrounding communities were locked down and people were frightened as law enforcement searched for the shooter. It was a horrific event that Mainers will never forgot, nor should we.

The phrase ``Lewiston strong'' continues to echo across our State as we remember those whom we lost nearly a year ago. The victims were enjoying time with their family and friends at a local bowling alley and a restaurant. They included four members of Maine's deaf community who had gathered at the restaurant that evening to play cornhole. They also included a 14-year-old high school honors student, an Army veteran who served tours in Iraq, and a volunteer coach for a youth bowling league. They were parents, husbands and wives, neighbors, coworkers, and friends. Lives were forever changed on that day as families continue to mourn the loss of their loved ones.

The shooter was a sergeant first class in the Army Reserve. In the aftermath of the shootings, I led the Maine delegation in requesting an independent review by the inspector general of the Army to help us better understand what happened and what could have been done differently to help prevent this tragedy.

I said then that I wanted to use the results of that review--as well as the findings of a separate investigation by the Army Reserve and the independent commission established by the Governor of Maine--to inform potential Federal legislation that could help prevent future shootings.

The Army Reserve and the Army inspector general released their reports in July, and the independent commission appointed by the Governor released its report just last month. I commend the commission for its thorough report, and I thank the chairman of the commission, former chief justice of the Maine Supreme Judicial Court Daniel Wathen for his leadership.

All of these investigations revealed that there were numerous missed opportunities to potentially intervene and prevent this horrific tragedy. In many instances, there was a clear lack of effective communication and coordination. For example, the independent commission concluded that the local sheriff's office was ``justified in pointing out that the Army Reserve did not share all relevant information it had about [the shooter's] behavior.'' In its report, the commission went on to explain that had Army Reserve personnel ``presented a full and complete accounting of the facts, the [sheriff's office] might have acted more assertively.''

The findings of these investigations into the Lewiston shootings also serve as a stark reminder that members of our Armed Forces are not immune from mental illness.

So, today, I am introducing legislation that is designed to help address these significant issues. If enacted, my bill will move us closer to achieving our goals of making our communities safer and ensuring that servicemembers in crisis get the assistance they need to prevent injury to themselves and to others.

This bill is premised on my belief, which is supported by the findings of the investigations, that State crisis intervention programs should be fully utilized by our military when appropriate and with adequate due process protections. This can only happen, however, if relevant information is shared in a timely and effective manner.

The Armed Forces Crisis Intervention Notification Act would facilitate that kind of communication and coordination between the Armed Forces and the relevant State, county, and local authorities that was lacking during the months leading up to the mass shootings in Lewiston.

Specifically, this bill would direct the Armed Forces to fully utilize State crisis intervention programs in certain circumstances where the risk of harm is the greatest--namely, when a servicemember is determined to be unfit to possess military firearms due to that member making serious, credible threats of violence against themselves or against others or when a servicemember has been involuntarily committed to a hospital that specializes in caring for people with mental illness. ``Fully utilize'' is defined in the bill to mean taking action available to third parties under a State crisis intervention program and providing relevant material facts to appropriate law enforcement or judicial personnel.

In the case of the Lewiston shooter, Robert Card, the Army Reserve determined that he should not have access to military weapons and facilitated his treatment at a mental hospital, but regrettably, it did not provide civilian law enforcement in Maine, where he resided, or in New York, where he was training, with all of the relevant information that it had. This bill would direct that such information be provided to the appropriate authorities through an established process so that the authorities can make fully informed decisions about whether to take additional steps pursuant to a State crisis intervention program.

The bill also facilitates information sharing by directing the branches of our Armed Forces to fully participate in judicial proceedings authorized as part of a State crisis intervention program. This means that the branches of our Armed Forces would be required to produce upon request evidence as part of those proceedings.

This provision is especially meaningful. If this bill had been law prior to the shootings and Maine law enforcement had initiated proceedings under the State of Maine's yellow flag law, the Army would have been directed to produce evidence that could have resulted in the shooter losing possession of his personal weapons--the weapons that he used to murder 18 people--and at the same time, he could have received additional treatment for his severe mental illness.

I have worked for months to carefully craft this legislation, which also reflects the findings and recommendations of the three separate investigations I previously described. While drafting this bill, I solicited input from the relevant stakeholders--including the Army, veterans service organizations, and sportsman's groups, including the National Shooting Sports Foundation and the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine.

Responsible gun ownership is part of the heritage of many Maine families. The Sportsman's Alliance of Maine has long been an effective voice in our State for preserving this heritage and protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans, while recognizing that there are extreme circumstances in which action must be taken to intervene in order to prevent gun-related violence. I thank them for their thoughtful input and advice.

The product of this collaborative and consultative process is a bill that is carefully constructed. It is a bill that is designed to save lives.

It is important to note once again that this proposal protects the due process and Second Amendment rights of servicemembers. It would not create a Federal crisis intervention program or impose new requirements on States or alter existing State programs or direct States to adopt such crisis intervention programs. The bill preserves the ability of States to craft their own crisis intervention programs. The Armed Forces would simply operate within each State's framework, provided that the State programs adhere to the due process and Second Amendment protections already specified by Congress in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

Moreover, if a current or former servicemember seeks to regain possession of his or her firearms through a judicial proceeding, he or she would be entitled to evidence from the military that could be helpful to his or her case.

This legislation also does not affect the military's existing authority to disarm servicemembers of their issued weapons in a broad range of situations that are unrelated to a serious, credible threat of violence or involuntary commitment to a mental hospital.

We often search for something good to come from a terrible tragedy. After shoppers were killed in Buffalo, NY, and schoolchildren and teachers were murdered in Uvalde, TX, we came together in this Chamber to pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. I was honored to be part of that effort, which I believe has saved lives. Indeed, in June, the Department of Justice announced that it had charged more than 500 defendants under the provisions of that law that target unlawful trafficking and straw purchasing of firearms. I coauthored those provisions to help take dangerous criminals off the streets, and that is exactly what is happening.

Nothing that we can do can take away the pain, the shock, and the understandable anger felt by the families who lost loved ones last October, but we can and we should take legislative and administrative actions in response to the Lewiston tragedy. By taking such actions, we have a chance to help servicemembers in crisis. We have a chance to help protect our neighbors, our families, our communities. We have a chance to save lives.

Let me end by thanking my colleague from Maine Senator King for cosponsoring this legislation. I urge the rest of our colleagues to join us in this important effort.

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