Why can’t our lawmakers do what the vast majority of Americans want in gun control legislation? How many more lives must be lost? Why are these weapons still being made available when their only purpose is so obvious?
I also wonder how much longer gun control advocates must be accused of “politicizing.” I might also ask Senate Minority Leader Trey Stewart why we must wait for “empirical analysis” … “and then we’ll figure out what went wrong” in Lewiston. Would five bullets taken from the legs of a survivor be empirical enough, Mr. Stewart?
What went wrong is that current federal and state gun control measures are miserably inadequate, added to the endemic procrastination of lawmakers who give lip service to “better mental health” but do nothing to further that. What went wrong is the too-easy availability of these weapons designed for military use.
I agree with those (including fellow Mainer Stephen King), who call upon us to stop voting for lawmakers who have allowed this to continue when they have the power to save so many lives. The majority of Americans want universal background checks and a ban on assault weapons of any kind, not a mass shooting epidemic.
Surely those who seek to defend themselves, hunt and assert their Second Amendment rights may do so within the responsible society’s confines we so desperately need.
Anne Nelson
Portland
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