YARMOUTH — A lawful purpose of handguns is to avoid harm by instilling fear in an actual foe. But different fears fill Maine’s State House as we decide a proposal to eliminate permits for carrying concealed handguns.

The first holds sway over those who arm themselves out of fear of random acts of violence, although Maine is the second safest state in the country. The second fear is that any gun regulation will be used to confiscate weapons. I do not understand the basis for these fears, but I do understand a third fear: that of legislators worried that a vote for any limit on possession of firearms would be political suicide.

To legislators, the political combatants on this issue seem to be all on the same side. They are not. Poll after poll shows that a majority of Mainers support closing background-check loopholes and even stronger measures. But this viewpoint has never come close to mustering the powerful, effective political force of the other side.

Legislators tend to listen to the loudest voices. Our leaders tell us that on volatile issues, we should “vote your district.” Not “vote your conscience,” but “vote your district.” Save your seat so we can save or attain a majority and thereby accomplish other important matters. And if the emails, letters, calls and contributions come primarily from one side, and defiance of that side threatens heavy spending on negative ads in the next election, well, then, you can always say you were voting your district.

The truth is, you never really know what your district wants. Legislators hear from only a fraction of the population. As I told members of the committee that is considering the bill to abolish the concealed-gun permit requirement: “Try doing all doors, not just those of your party members. You may be surprised. But in any event, if you really vote just to avoid political defeat, you are voting from fear.”

We are citizen legislators, not careerists. We did not seek our positions in order to get re-elected, nor for fame and fortune. We came here in order to do right by our constituents, our fellow Mainers and our conscience.

In the last Legislature, I saw legislators vote against evidence and their conviction by voting against modest measures to close loopholes and to rationalize the current concealed-gun permitting system. They lost the next election anyway. Maybe their defeat had nothing to do with those votes. But clearly they lost the loyalty of voters who care about gun safety.

After the massacre in Newtown, I thought things would change. Nothing could be worse that the pulverization of those tiny children and their protectors. But while public attitudes may have shifted, political minds are slow to detect the trend.

I believe the day will come when the majority will have their way, perhaps by referendum, bypassing timid legislators. The right to bear arms will always be secure in Maine and in the United States. But we must learn not to enshrine that right with an absolutism that is incompatible with the Constitution and the safety of our society.

Our safety is at stake because in Maine, guns are used to kill the very people they are meant to protect. Weapons are the primary means of suicide among men; they turn domestic disputes into lethal confrontations, and worst of all, they are the cause of accidental deaths of our children.

Finally, the “more guns less crime” hypothesis has no legs. For nearly two decades, the National Rifle Association convinced Congress to block federal funding of weapon violence research. That bar has finally been lifted. Even before then, Stanford and Johns Hopkins researchers released a careful study last year that demonstrated that “right to carry” laws actually increased aggravated assault by almost 33 percent. Lesser increases were also found for rape, robbery and murder.

Finally, it’s not just about numbers. It’s also about the fourth kind of fear. While these laws may make some people feel safer, for many citizens, the feeling is the opposite. Is that nervous man next to me in the grocery story carrying a gun? Is that toddler reaching into his mother’s handbag accidentally going to pull out a handgun?

This kind of paranoia is unsettling and bad for the sense of trust so important in a democracy. Gun violence happens already, and we don’t need permissive laws to increase that reality and that fear.

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