Easy access to guns a public safety issue
Aug. 30, 2011in MCAHV News
Portland Press Herald
http://www.pressherald.com/opinion/easy-access-to-guns-a-public-safety-issue_2011-08-30.html
Letters to the editor, Aug. 30, 2011
Easy access to guns a public safety issue
Let's be clear and factual. No one has the absolute right to own or carry a gun. While NRA extremists would lead us to believe that the Second Amendment gives us that right, gun ownership and use is regulated, as it should be.
The real debate is how strictly guns should be regulated to protect us from criminals and those who are adjudicated to be mentally ill, for example.
The recent open-carry event at Back Cove in Portland highlights the extreme agenda to normalize Wild-West, let's-take-the-law-into-our-own-hands, everyone-should-be-packing behavior.
We already know that easy access to guns is dangerous, and wonder why extremists keep trying to convince us that more guns are good for us. We know from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that increasing the number of guns conversely increases the number of deaths by gun through accidental discharge, suicide or homicide.
The NRA argues that more gun regulation won't stop criminals. No law stops everyone from doing what they shouldn't be doing – how many people do you see speeding – but that shouldn't stop us from having strong gun laws that help protect innocent people such as domestic violence victims.
Easy access is a problem. Maine provides criminals with a steady supply of guns, thanks to a loophole that allows the purchase of a gun without a background check (just ask the Acton man who sold hundreds of guns to criminals from away). Drugs are brought to Maine and guns leave, fueling the criminal trade in states like Massachusetts, which does have strong laws that work.
Almost 90 percent of Mainers want to close the so-called gun show loophole.
It should be more difficult for criminals to obtain guns in Maine. So why wouldn't the NRA want to support that?
Karen A D'Andrea
Executive Director, Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence
Portland
Crafts’ bill targets gun limits
Feb. 23, 2011in MCAHV News
Article By Beth Brogan. Originally printed in The Times Record
LISBON — Proposals by Republican state legislators to relax Maine’s gun control laws set the stage for a new political standoff at the State House.
Among the handful of bills expected to set off the biggest firestorm is legislation sponsored by Rep. Dale Crafts, R-Lisbon, that would — among other changes — repeal the requirement for a permit to carry a concealed weapon in Maine.
Could rampage happen without large magazines?
Jan. 18, 2011in MCAHV News
Originally printed as a letter to the editor in the Portland Press Herald
The news of the Tucson, Ariz., shootings is shocking. Understandably, we are asking ourselves how did the level of political discourse in our country deteriorate to the point where such violence is involved.
Since biblical times, humans have been committing despicable acts of violence against each other.
The shooting in Tucson by Jared Loughner is yet another instance. Much as we pray for improvement in human behavior, there will always be Jared Loughners out there.
What has not always been the case, however, is easy access to weapons. Under pressure from the gun lobby, guns have become too easily accessible to dangerous individuals. In hindsight, Loughner should never have been allowed to buy the gun that he used to kill six and injure 13 more.
Op-Ed by Tom Franklin, MCAHV Board President
Dec. 8, 2010in MCAHV News
Originally published as an Op-Ed in the Portland Press Herald
Since before “Bert and I” Mainers have been proud of their common sense and common decency. But when the subject is guns this respect for community often gives way to more self-centered views. Making safer our food, water, air or job sites is fine, but making gun ownership safer for us all is widely perceived as an assault on inalienable and absolute personal rights.
The social cost of this somewhat paranoid attitude has been detailed graphically in several recent Press-Herald accounts of unregulated gun transfers, nationally and locally. In Maine and many other states thousands of guns are sold annually with no background checks and no written records of the transaction, at gun shows and through “private sales” such as through Uncle Henry’s. Many of these sales are made in violation of federal law (which prohibits sales to felons, domestic abusers, mentally ill, and other categories) and state law. And as the Press-Herald accounts made very clear, some of these illegal sales are made to undercover law enforcement officers with severe consequences for the seller.
Councilors call on Legislature to restrict guns
Nov. 16, 2010in MCAHV News
Article by Dennis Hoey. Originally posted on Maine Today.
They will ask lawmakers to prohibit guns in publicly owned facilities where large gatherings are held.
PORTLAND - The City Council endorsed a resolution Monday night calling on the Legislature to prohibit firearms in publicly owned facilities where large gatherings are held.
The 6-1 vote came after a long public hearing in which gun advocates -- several wearing handguns in hip holsters -- and people who supported the resolution spoke.