AUGUSTA, MAINE — Maine’s constitutional carry bill went into effect on October 15th and gun store owners are already noticing an uptick in business as Mainers get ready to embrace the bill. Notably amongst the sales are small and compact pistols that seem to be particularly popular with Maine women. The new law will allow anyone who is legally allowed to own a gun to keep it on his person or in his vehicle.
“Well since that’s happened, we’ve seen a large group of Mainers coming in looking to purchase firearms,” says Ryan Nyer, vice president of Maine Military Supply in Holden. “A lot of them are small firearms that they’re looking to utilize when the law’s passed and in effect. We’ve also seen holsters being a huge uptick. A lot of customers already have handguns and are coming into look for a way to actually carry that firearm on them concealed.”
It’s good to see that with constitutional carry, more Mainers are reportedly signing up for training courses, getting proper concealed carry holsters, and readying themselves for a brand new experience: the Second Amendment in all its glory.
If I sound a bit sore, it’s because I’m right across the border in New Hampshire and while I’m proud of our pistol permitting process, I see Maine’s step towards constitutional carry as the only thing that makes sense. A lot of Maine is very spread out and thin. It’s a great advantage to be able to confidently carry concealed or otherwise while exploring any of the millions of acres of pristine woodlands.
Sadly, New Hampshire’s constitutional carry made a great rally in the Senate only to get shot down by Governor Maggie Hassan (Her Royal Majesty, as I jokingly put it). We’ll get our chance again but right now we’re staring down Vermont and Maine and wondering to ourselves, “why not us, too?”
A big uptick in popularity is the husband and wife duos coming in to equip themselves. Because Maine did have a “shall permit” process, there were already quite a few Mainers with valid concealed carry permits. With the expansion of the law to incorporate all legal gunowners, many spouses are taking their significant other to come in and suit up with a concealed carry pistol or revolver.
“Wednesday is Ladies Day at our indoor shooting range,” Nyer says. “The ladies come in, they don’t have to pay anything to go in there and they can try out firearms in our indoor shooting range, so we’re recognizing that ladies and couples are coming in really interested in the industry and looking for some way to carry.”
This is great to see. As we’ve covered in previous articles, women are a truly under-represented populace when it comes to the concealed carry community — and it shouldn’t be that way. Thankfully, in recent years, women have been in the forefront training to protect themselves and their families.
Best of all, women seem to take training seriously. According to news sources in Maine, women are signing up in record numbers to gain familiarization with firearms and best practices for safety. It doesn’t get any better than this.