The Maine Senate could debate a gun control bill this week that would require background checks prior to sales at gun shows.

Sen. Stanley Gerzofsky’s bill is the first of a series on gun control measures expected to be debated in the remaining weeks of the legislative session.

The Senate tabled the measure Tuesday but the bill could come up again today. It was endorsed last week on a 7-6 vote in the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee.

The Brunswick Democrat ’ s bill would require a national criminal background check immediately before the sale or transfer of a firearm at a gun show. Show operators would have to post signs notifying exhibitors of the background check requirement, and failure to perform the check could result in a $2,500 fine, not $10,000 as the legislation initially proposed.

Numerous gun safety bills surfaced early in the session in response to the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

The Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee killed a measure by Senate President Justin Alfond, DPortland, which sought to limit the number of rounds a magazine could hold to 10.

Still pending in committee are bills to require universal background checks and to allow police to seize guns from people admitted to a psychiatric hospital on an emergency basis.

Lawmakers in April gave final approval to a firearmsrelated bill that would restrict the public release of data about people who have applied for concealed handgun permits.