Maine

Maine has been a constitutional-carry state since Oct 15, 2015 (LD 652 / Public Law 2015, ch. 327); open carry has never required a permit for anyone 21+ (18+ if active/honorably-discharged military) who can legally possess a firearm. Maine's optional permit is for concealed carry and reciprocity purposes.

Maine has no statute prohibiting firearms in places of worship; carry is subject to the property owner's own rules.

17-A M.R.S. § 1057 bars firearms in a licensed on-premises establishment only if it is conspicuously posted against firearms, or if the carrier is under the influence / at or above 0.08% BAC. Many restaurants serving alcohol do not even hold an on-premises-consumption license and so aren't covered at all.

Maine has statewide permitless concealed carry for qualifying adults 21+ (18 for certain exceptions), administered alongside an optional permit system by Maine State Police for reciprocity purposes. No boat/vessel/waterway restriction was found in Maine carry law.

17-A M.R.S. §1058 prohibits firearms in a courthouse, and explicitly states holding a valid concealed-handgun permit under Title 25, ch. 252 is not a defense — courts are off-limits regardless of permit. This provision does not extend to general government buildings; no separate Maine statute banning firearms in a DMV office or city hall surfaced in research.

20-A M.R.S. § 10009 authorizes public and private colleges/universities to regulate or prohibit weapons on their property. As of Jan. 2025 every Maine public and private institution had exercised that authority to prohibit concealed carry.

Maine is a permitless-carry state with no gun-specific business-signage statute; a property owner may exclude a carrier under general trespass law (17-A M.R.S. § 402), and carry is presumptively lawful absent any such notice.

No ME statute requires advance owner consent; general criminal trespass law (17-A M.R.S. 402) requires notice before presence becomes unlawful (opt-out default). Constitutional-carry state.

No Maine source found lists airports among restricted locations; usacarry.com's Maine list (courthouses, state parks/Acadia National Park, schools, federal buildings, the State House complex, posted private property, and licensed liquor establishments) is fairly detailed and specific, and the omission of airports appears deliberate rather than an incomplete summary. Still, without an affirmative statute citation or a second source, I'm treating this as unconfirmed.

Maine has permitless carry (2015) for eligible adults, generally covering vehicle carry. Two narrower carve-outs exist: employer worksite parking restrictions can be overridden only by a valid carry permit (26 M.R.S. §600), and at federal sites like Acadia National Park a permitless carrier's vehicle firearm must be inoperable/cased/stored so it isn't readily usable.

No Maine statute prohibits firearms in hospitals.

Maine is permitless-carry. Its prohibited-place list (courthouses, schools, posted alcohol establishments, Capitol, federal facilities) does not include rest areas, and permit holders may keep a firearm locked in a vehicle even at work. Sourced via NRA-ILA quoting Maine statutes; I was not able to independently pull the full primary text.

Bifurcated by license status. 25 M.R.S. § 2003-A requires a person carrying concealed WITHOUT a valid permit (i.e., under Maine's permitless-carry allowance) to "immediately inform" a law enforcement officer of the fact upon any arrest, detainment, or routine traffic stop (civil violation, up to $100 fine, if they don't). An actual PERMIT HOLDER, by contrast, is only required under § 2003(11) to have the permit in immediate possession and "display the same on demand" of an officer — there is no separate proactive verbal duty for licensed carriers.

Maine State Police: "The Division of Weapons and Professional Licensing provides concealed handgun permits for approximately 360 municipalities in Maine as well as all out of state permits," with a dedicated Non-Resident New/Renewal Concealed Handgun Permit application.

Verified directly against the official Maine Legislature text of 20-A M.R.S. §6552: possession is banned on public school property or approved private school property (discharge banned within 500 feet). The ONLY exceptions are law enforcement, school-board-authorized educational/hunting-related programs, and school-operated gun ranges — there is no exception for a concealed handgun permit holder as such. Maine is permitless-carry, which does not affect this ban.

No Maine-specific firearm-signage criminal statute is known to me, and I could not fetch Maine's general trespass statute (17-A M.R.S. § 402) to confirm its notice requirements in this session.

25 M.R.S. § 2011(1): municipalities barred from any ordinance concerning sale, carrying, licensing, or other firearms matters. Local ordinances may only duplicate state law exactly, regulate discharge, or govern municipal employees' weapons.

Maine has no statewide ban on firearms at voting places. LD 1743 (2025), which would have let municipalities opt in to prohibiting firearms in municipal buildings and voting places, 'Died Between Houses' on June 16, 2025 and was not enacted — so not even a local-option law is currently available.

No state-level magazine capacity restriction found.

RECENT (2026): Maine voters approved a true Extreme Risk Protection Order law by citizen initiative (Question 2, Nov. 4, 2025; ~59% yes), codified around 25 M.R.S. ch. 261, effective Feb. 21, 2026. Family/household members or law enforcement may petition. This supplements — does not replace — Maine's older, unique 'yellow flag' law (law-enforcement-only, requires a prior protective custody + medical evaluation), which remains in force alongside it.

No Maine state-level restriction beyond the federal NFA process was found for suppressors, SBR/SBS, or machine guns. Maine has no state assault-weapon ban and secondary sources confirm all four common NFA categories are permitted once the federal process is complete. Relying on a secondary source here (Silencer Shop's state-law page) — a primary Maine statute citation was not independently confirmed in this pass.

Castle Doctrine state: Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 17-A, § 108(2)(C) — deadly force not justifiable if actor knows he can retreat with complete safety, except no duty to retreat from a dwelling place (and limited workplace exception). No duty at home/workplace; duty in public.

Me. Stat. tit. 15, § 395 (enacted 2023-2024) requires a background check on the purchaser only for private firearm sales conducted at gun shows or that were 'advertised' (posted in writing, broadcast, or online). A private, non-advertised, face-to-face sale (e.g., arranged by conversation) still requires no check. In April 2025 Republican legislators sought to roll this and the 72-hour waiting period back; as of this research date the law remains in force. Note: a separate 2025 ballot measure (Question 2) proposing broader gun restrictions did not establish a general UBC law.

Maine's entire criminal weapons chapter (17-A M.R.S. ch. 43, sections 1051-1059) -- read in full for this research -- contains no suppressor or silencer provision at all.

17-A M.R.S. section 1051 makes unauthorized machine-gun possession a Class D crime, but section 1052 exempts 'machine guns manufactured, acquired, transferred or possessed in accordance with the National Firearms Act, as amended.'

Not mentioned anywhere in Maine's weapons chapter (17-A M.R.S. ch. 43).

Not mentioned anywhere in Maine's weapons chapter (17-A M.R.S. ch. 43).

Maine's weapons chapter has no destructive-device or AOW provision; this is an absence-of-restriction finding after reading the full chapter, not an affirmative statute -- no separate Maine law restricting a federally registered destructive device was located.