I hope my letter is part of a widespread outcry.
The governor’s recent comments encouraging gun owners to kill drug dealers, even though supposedly made in jest, crossed a line (“Le-Page: Mainers who carry concealed weapons could help rid state of drug dealers,” Jan. 27). As a government official, Gov. LePage has a responsibility not to be flippant with his words, particularly in encouraging lawlessness and murder.
If the events giving rise to the #blacklivesmatter movement have taught us anything, it is that even trained, professional police can get it wrong, with fatal consequences for the innocent.
I am a gun owner, and I’ve lost friends to heroin overdose. I agree with the urgency of addressing the opiate problem through both treatment and enforcement.
Proposing enactment of the death penalty for convicted drug dealers or establishment of a stand-your-ground law is appropriate discourse where we can rationally debate the pros and cons as a matter of policy.
But Gov. LePage should know better than to take gun violence so lightly as to advocate for vigilante justice. Such statements violate the governor’s oath to uphold the laws of our state, and, combined with his prior racist description of drug dealers, put minorities and interracial couples in serious danger.
Our legal system is centered on the concept of innocent until proven guilty and holding the police accountable to do their job well.
In a Hollywood studio, the Boondock Saints manage to avoid killing the innocent, but in real life it is the innocent who will suffer the consequences of the governor’s flippant comments.
I hope that the Legislature will reconsider the vote to impeach or at least censure Gov. LePage.
Sarah McDaniel
Gorham
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