Maine Wire Ignores Collateral Damage

Under current federal law, licensed gun dealers must perform a background check on potential gun purchasers before selling a firearm. This check helps prevent sales to ( among others) convicted felons, domestic abusers and persons previously committed to mental institutions. Unlicensed dealers, estimated to be the source of 40 percent of U.S. firearms sales, are under no such obligation.

I will assume that Maine Wire writer Jeff Zimba doesn’t advocate continuing to arm the above dangerous subpopulation, but is opposed to erecting any potential barrier between a law-abiding citizen and the weapon of his/her choice. His arguments against the November voter initiative closing the loophole include: first, there is neither a problem in Maine nor any “home grown” support for the initiative; second, hunters ( even your cousin!) won’t be able to borrow a long gun while hunting legally; third, young men and women attending the Maine Criminal Justice Academy won’t have a weapon to train with before joining their departments. For a publication “dedicated to your right to know,” the Wire seems awfully short of facts.

There were about 110 gun deaths per year in Maine from 2010- 2015, the majority due to intentional self- harm. In that same period about 12 of those deaths per year were due to assault, one-to-two domestic violence. Maine is not, in fact, a particularly dangerous place except in your home. It might be noted that comparing states with universal background checks to those without, like Maine, there were 53 percent fewer gun suicides and 38 percent fewer domestic assaults with firearms if checks were mandated.

Guns sold in Maine have been used by criminals in Massachusetts and Connecticut — frequently a “straw buyer” is the intermediary. The Bureau of Alcohol and Firearms classifies Maine (along with New Hampshire and Vermont) as a source state for southern New England. Is this not partially a Maine problem? In 2010, 117,000 U. S. gun transfers were prevented by federal checks.

As regards home-grown support, a March survey of Maine voters ( via MainePeople’s Resource Center) showed two-thirds of Mainers favor mandatory checks. This mirrors the national mood. Zimba whines about New York’s Michael Bloomberg’s meddling in Maine matters, but is strangely silent about the dollars “from away” that come from the NRA, directly and via lobbying.

There are numerous categories of gun transfers exempted from the background check. Temporarily borrowing a gun while hunting legally and transfers between family members are legal. Your cousin is included.

The Maine Criminal Justice Academy trains men and women in law enforcement. The assistant director told me that the attendees are usually already employed in law enforcement, and come to the Academy with their department-issued guns. In the exceptional circumstance where that might not be the case, the temporary transfer of a weapon for training should not be a problem: shooting ranges and law enforcement agencies are other exceptions to the initiative.

Maine Heritage Policy Center is worried about the rights of law- abiding citizens, who are already well-armed as a group, and ignores the greater “collateral damage” inflicted on law-abiding innocents. The law-abiding will still get their guns under this initiative. This is a way to keep some guns away from those who can’t pass a background check.

Steven Zimmerman,

Topsham