Thanks to the lobbying of the National Rifle Association, Maine is considering a bill that would prevent landowners who accept public housing subsidies from forbidding their tenants to keep and bear arms. The bill came about from the plight of Harvey Lembo, a former lobsterman, who lived in subsidized housing in Maine. After being robbed five times, he purchased a Russian-made revolver last year and had to use it that night to thwart a sixth attempted robbery. Lembo, though, risked losing his apartment because the property owner said guns were banned on the premises.

The NRA stepped in and argued the right to self-defense is an inherent right, whether the American lives in a house of their own or in public housing. Opponents say private property rights trump the right to possess a firearm. Meanwhile, the anti-gun lobby is lambasting the fact that it’s the NRA that’s lobbying the state. As The Truth About Guns blogger Robert Farago wrote, anti-gun lawmakers are bristling over the fact that the NRA can trek up to the Pin Tree State and lobby for Second Amendment rights, but they ignore the fact that opponents to Liberty do the same thing through organizations like Everytown for Gun Safety.