A Republican lawmaker in Maine was censured by his colleagues after implying that the deadliest mass shooting in the state's history was punishment from God for a recently passed abortion law.
During debate on a bill on reproductive and gender-affirming care on the House floor Wednesday, state Rep. Michael Lemelin called the legislation "the purest form of evil" and then compared it to Legislative Document 1619, a bill to expand abortion access that went into effect in October.
Pointing to the Lewiston mass shooting and four recent large storms in the state, Lemelin said that God "draws a line in the sand, and when we crossed that line, there's consequences."
"When 1619 passed and went into law on Oct. 25, you told God life doesn't matter," he said.
"Keep in mind that the law went into effect on Oct. 25. God heard you and the horrible events on Oct. 25 happened," he added.
The Lewiston mass shooting on Oct. 25 was the worst in Maine's history. A gunman killed 18 people in two separate locations, and a nationwide manhunt ensued before he was found dead two days later. An independent commission put together by Gov. Janet Mills found that local law enforcement should have been able to confiscate the shooter's guns and take him into protective custody weeks before the shooting.
Conservatives have long blamed mass shootings on a whole host of reasons: video games, gender identity, the dissolution of the traditional nuclear family, buildings having too many doors, the human heart. But Lemelin's remarks were upsetting enough that they earned condemnation from lawmakers from both parties — except for Republican state Rep. Shelley Rudnicki, who told the chamber that she agreed with Lemelin.
Both Lemelin and Rudnicki were censured Thursday. “Your remarks were extremely offensive and intentionally harmful to the victims and the families of the Lewiston tragedy, the House of Representatives, and the people of Maine,” Democratic House Speaker Rachel Talbot Ross wrote in a letter to Lemelin.