The House joins the Senate in approving the change in initial votes, overcoming public safety concerns and keeping Maine on the path of becoming the seventh state to allow the practice.

But House Republicans vow to fight the agreement because it does not include income tax cuts for the next two years.

The governor’s fiery remarks come as lawmakers struggle to find a compromise on the state’s two-year budget and avoid a government shutdown.

The decisive 21-14 vote could foreshadow a similar result in the House, as advocates for the bill and supporters of regulation debate gun rights, background checks and safety.

More than 800 measures still await action in the dwindling weeks of the session, and tax code reform, a LePage priority, may be set aside.

The three-member board splits on the interpretation of a missing ‘and’ that threatens to cut $38 million from the energy-efficiency program.