document: A 1987 state constitutional amendment broadening the right to bear arms means that even convicted felons may own guns , a judge ruled . Cumberland County Superior Court Justice Stephen L. Perkins on Friday dismissed a charge of possession of a firearm by a felon against Edward Brown of Cumberland . Prosecutors had argued that the amendment 's backers did not intend to allow felons to own guns , but the judge said nothing in the amendment indicated such an intent . `` If Maine legislators and citizens wanted to restrict or qualify the right to keep and bear arms , they could have enacted a constitutional provision that contained the desired restrictions , '' Perkins wrote . `` Maine 's right to keep and bear arms amendment is the most broad and least restrictive of any of the 43 similar state amendments , '' he wrote . Attorney General James E. Tierney said Saturday that the case would be appealed , adding , `` With all due respect to Justice Perkins , we think he is wrong . '' The Maine constitution used to guaranteed the right to keep and bear arms `` for the common defense . '' In 1986 , the Maine Supreme Court upheld a gun violation by focusing on the `` common defense '' phrase . In response , the Legislature enacted a constitutional amendment deleting that language , and voters approved it in November 1987 . The amendment declared , `` Every citizen has a right to keep and bear arms , and this right shall never be questioned . '' Brown had been accused of criminal threatening in 1988 , as well as with illegal possession of a gun . He previously had been convicted under the state 's habitual offender law for operating a motor vehicle after his driver 's license had been revoked . Perkins denied a motion to dismiss the criminal threatening charge , but threw out the gun possession charge , saying `` there is simply no rational connection '' between Brown 's previous conviction and his ownership of a firearm .
extractive_keyphrases: guns constitutional amendment felons right firearm arms maine constitution restrictions gun possession charge criminal threatening