Lewiston Strong: a horrible gun violence mass murder in Maine could have been prevented

Echo report published in The Washington Post*:

Maine gunman who murdered 18 innocent people in Lewiston Maine, was hospitalized after alarming statements, official says.

The man police suspect killed 18 people in shootings in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday night had so alarmed people around him that he was hospitalized and received mental health treatment this summer, according to a person familiar with the investigation.

Police say 40-year-old Robert R. Card of Bowdoin, Maine, wanted in connection with the Lewiston mass killings, which officials said took place Wednesday  (October 25, 2023) night just minutes apart at a bowling alley and a restaurant in the small city about 35 miles north of Portland, Maine.

These killings, the deadliest American shooting rampage in more than a year, set off a sprawling manhunt that stretched overnight Wednesday and continued throughout Thursday, with the attacker still at large as night set in.

Col. William G. Ross, who leads the Maine State Police, said that the investigation into the shootings brought officials to a vehicle parked at a boat landing area in Lisbon, Maine, in Sagadahoc county. 

In fact, the vehicle’s registration pointed to Card, Ross said, and an arrest warrant was issued for him.

Investigators delving into Card’s background quickly found evidence suggesting that his life had begun spiraling out of control over the summer, according to the person familiar with the case so far. This person, like others interviewed, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe an ongoing investigation.

Card has been in the Army Reserve for more than half his life. He enlisted in December 2002, and has not served in any combat deployments, but instead was a petroleum supply specialist, according to his service record, which the Army released following the shooting.

During the summer, his military reserve commanders became so concerned by statements he made targeting his own unit that he was sent to a hospital, according to the person familiar with the investigation. Card received about two weeks of inpatient psychiatric treatment, the person said. It is not clear if any other consequences followed.

Investigators have been told by people who knew the killer, Card, that in recent months he described hearing disturbing voices, and had increasingly become fixated on the bowling alley and the restaurant where he allegedly opened fire, according to two people familiar with the investigation.

The episode that saw Card hospitalized occurred while he was at Camp Smith, N.Y., a New York Army National Guard installation that is used for training, according to two people familiar with the matter.

Maine does not have a “red-flag law” that would allow law-enforcement officials or relatives to try to have weapons taken away from individuals who are viewed as posing a danger to themselves or others.

Speaking on Thursday, while the manhunt was still gripping the region, police emphasized that they viewed Card as dangerous but declined to say much more about him. Ross emphasized only that the suspected attacker “should not be approached” by the public.

Ross told reporters that an arrest warrant had been issued for Card for eight counts of murder. While 18 people were killed, Ross said, only eight of the victims had been identified as of Thursday morning, so the warrant only included those counts. The arrest warrant was sealed, according to the Maine State Police.

Card had been an engineering technology student at the University of Maine from 2001, until 2004, but did not graduate, according to the school. He was a familiar sight around Bowdoin, according to Liam Kent, who grew up in the area, not far from Card’s family.

“I've seen him smoking cigarettes with, with the guys out front after they went hunting in November with all their hunting gear on," Kent, 24, said in an interview.

Kent said Card came from “one of the biggest families in Bowdoin,” which he described as a small town. But, he added, he did not have any close ties to Card’s family, suggesting they were not his style. The family, Kent said, could be heard “shooting guns all the time,” a sound that would “reverberate up the valley.”

Attempts to speak with the suspected shooter’s family were unsuccessful. 

A reporter went to an address associated with his parents, but the person who answered the door declined to answer questions or make a statement. People in the home had called police about other journalists who also attempted to visit.

The shooting ignited a furious search that reverberated beyond the shattered community of Lewiston, whose residents waited anxiously Thursday while the (stressful) manhunt continued.

Law enforcement personnel flocked to Maine from a constellation of nearby states, including New Hampshire, Vermont, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New York, along with federal officials from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, among others.

Investigators scrutinizing the Maine attacks suspect that the shooter used a .308 rifle to commit the attacks, two people familiar with the matter said.

One of the people said that investigators did not yet find any indication that the purchase of the weapon was illegal. 

Both people familiar with the matter noted that the investigation is still in its early stages and that their understanding of events could change.

*Robert Klemko (reporter covering policing and criminal justice) in Bowdoin, Maine, and Kelsey Ables in Seoul, Lori Rozsa in West Palm Beach, Fla., Joseph Menn in San Francisco, and Alice Crites, Alex Horton and Danielle Paquette in Washington, contributed to this report.

Rise in antisemitism is unexplainable

Opinion: Nothing has prepared me for the antisemitism I see on college campuses now.

Echo opinion published in the Los Angeles Times:

Holocaust "Night of the Kristallnacht November 9 1938-November 10 1938

I am a 70-year-old Jewish man, but never in my life have I seen or felt the antisemitism of the last few weeks. I have heard antisemitic things from time to time through my life. I remember as a child being called a “dirty Jew,” and my friends and I being called “Christ killers” as we walked to Hebrew school. 

I recall a college girlfriend’s parents telling her that she should not go out with me because “Jews are different.” I had an incident in a class I was teaching about the ethics of negotiations, where a student matter of factly said, “the other side will try to Jew you down,” without the slightest sense of how that was a slur.

But none of this prepared me for the last few weeks. On Friday, someone in my school posted on Instagram a picture of me with the caption, “Erwin Chemerinsky has taken an indefinite sabbatical from Berkeley Law to join the I.D.F.” Two weeks ago, at a town hall, a student told me that what would make her feel safe in the law school would be “to get rid of the Zionists.” I have heard several times that I have been called “part of a Zionist conspiracy,” which echoes of antisemitic tropes that have been expressed for centuries.

I was stunned when students across the country, including mine, immediately celebrated the Hamas terrorist attack on October 7, in Israel. Students for Justice in Palestine called the terror attack a “historic win” for the “Palestinian resistance.”  

A Columbia professor called the Hamas massacre “awesome” and a “stunning victory.” A Yale professor tweeted, “It’s been such an extraordinary day!” while calling Israel a “murderous, genocidal settler state.” A Chicago art professor posted a note reading, “Israelis are pigs. Savages. Very very bad people. Irredeemable excrement…. May they all rot in hell.” A UC Davis professor tweeted, “Zionist journalists … have houses w addresses, kids in school,” adding “they can fear their bosses, but they should fear us more.” There are, sadly, countless other examples.

How can anyone celebrate the killing of 260 people attending a music festival, or the brutal massacre of more than 100 people in a kibbutz, or the pulling of people from their houses to take as hostages? If this happened to people who were not Jews would there be such celebrations?

I have heard few campus administrators speak out publicly about the antisemitism that has become prevalent this month. They want to seem neutral or not be perceived as Islamophobic. I understand. I, too, refrained from speaking out against those who defended Hamas’ terrorist attack.

But when do we stop being silent and when do we say the antisemitism must be condemned and it is not acceptable on our campuses? I believe this must be that time.

To be clear, I — and I hope all of us — mourn the loss of life in Israel and in Gaza. There is surely room in our hearts to feel compassion for all who are in danger and all who have lost loved ones. But it is simply wrong to confuse condemning antisemitism with ignoring the plight of the Palestinians.

Of course, criticism of the Israeli government is not antisemitism, any more than criticizing the policies of the United States government is anti-American. I strongly oppose the policies of the Netanyahu government, favor full rights for Palestinians, and believe that there must be a two-state solution. But if you listen to what is being said on college campuses now, some of the loudest voices are not advocating for a change in Israeli policies, but are calling for an end to Israel. Students regularly chant, “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” and “We don’t want no two states, we want all of 48,” referring to going back to 1948 before Israel existed.

An oft-repeated mantra among some is that Israel is a settler colonialist country and should be forced to give the land back to the Palestinians. I have no idea how it would be determined who is rightly entitled to what land, but I do know that calling for the total elimination of Israel is antisemitic.

There has been enough silence and enough tolerance of antisemitism on college campuses. I call on my fellow university administrators to speak out and denounce the celebrations of Hamas and the blatant antisemitism that is being voiced.

Students have the right to say very offensive and even hateful things, but school administrators — deans, presidents and chancellors — have free speech rights too. They must exercise them and take a stand even if it will offend some and subject them to criticism.

It is a very difficult time on campuses across the country. Many of our students and faculty members have family and friends in Israel or in Gaza. Many care deeply about the suffering we are seeing, and yet there is no bridge between those who seek the elimination of Israel and those who believe it is essential to have a Jewish state. I hope there will be a time when campus officials can find ways to bring their communities together. But it is not realistic now. This makes it all the more important that they show moral leadership and speak out against the antisemitism that is rampant now, as they would condemn all other forms of racism and hate on campus.

Erwin Chemerinsky is a contributing writer to Opinion and the dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law. His latest book is “Worse Than Nothing: The Dangerous Fallacy of Originalism.”

Maine Republican legislators have a lot of explaining to do: Yellow Flag law failed

Editorial echo published in the Boston Globe:

After Maine shootings, our grim ritual returns: burying the dead, pleading for better gun laws.  With some of the region’s most permissive firearm laws, Maine has been a poster child for the nation’s political paralysis on gun safety.

Congressman Jared Golden

There are two important, if crushingly familiar, early takeaways from the massacre of 18 people in Lewiston, Maine, on Wednesday evening, a death toll almost certain to rise. 

One is that the nation is facing a mental health crisis and has a critical shortage of mental health professionals to help it cope with that crisis.

The other is that it is far too easy to acquire firearms in Maine, particularly assault-style weapons whose main function is the swift and efficient killing of human beings, full stop.

Regarding the nation’s mental health crisis, there is much agreement across the political spectrum about the depth and breadth of the problem, as well as about the importance of doing more. 

Whether political leaders in Washington and state capitals can find the political will to allocate the required resources — and whether our educational institutions can recruit and train enough mental health caregivers — are works in progress.

But on the issue of imposing even the most common-sense restrictions on the powerful killing tools made by the firearms industry, the nation is hopelessly divided. Divided between liberals and conservatives, between rural areas and urban ones, even between men and women.

Maine is a poster child for the nation’s political paralysis on gun safety. Though the state government is controlled by the Democratic Party, the Legislature rejected a bounty of gun safety bills earlier this year, including a ban on rapid-fire devices, a 72-hour waiting period to purchase firearms and background checks for private gun sales.

Maine is among the nation’s most sparsely populated states — one where nearly half of adults have a gun at home and where hunting is a beloved pastime. That means that when it comes to gun issues, culture and geography may be as or even more important than party politics.

But once in a while, the hope of progress can rise from the ashes of tragedy. On Thursday, Representative Jared Golden, a Democrat from Lewiston who represents the vast northern half of Maine, declared that he had changed his mind about opposing a ban on assault weapons. In an emotional mea culpa, Golden, a former Marine infantryman who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, called his opposition to the ban “a failure” and pledged to work “with any colleague to get this done in the time that I have left in Congress.”

(Alas, Maine’s senior US senator, Susan Collins, said she would continue to oppose banning assault weapons. But Collins, a moderate Republican who played a constructive role in passage of a gun-safety measure in Congress last year, said she does support setting limits on high-capacity magazines, an incremental but valuable step.)

The real work, however, must start in Augusta. With the possible exception of Republican-dominated New Hampshire, Maine has the laxest gun laws in the Northeast. Currently, in Maine, there is little to stop, say, an abusive spouse from purchasing a semiautomatic weapon from an unlicensed dealer online or at a gun show because the state does not require background checks on private sales. Likewise, because the state does not have a waiting period on gun purchases, a person who is gripped by suicidal thoughts can walk into a gun store and purchase a handgun on the spur of the moment.

We still know little about the background and motives of the man accused in the Lewiston massacre, Robert R. Card II. An Army reservist, he was, according to various published reports, an expert marksman who, after living a quiet life on his family’s farm, struggled with mental health problems during the past year, including hearing voices at the bar and bowling alley where the killings occurred. Several outlets reported that he had received a mental health evaluation this summer due to “erratic” behavior and may have received treatment.

It also seems clear from surveillance photos that the man who killed or maimed all those people — those average Maine citizens who were innocently sipping beers or enjoying a night of bowling with friends — used a military-style assault rifle with its enhanced capability to rapidly fire more, and more lethal, rounds with the mere bending of a finger.

These details are sure to evolve as more reporting emerges. But huge questions remain. If in fact the suspect was hospitalized for mental health care, shouldn’t authorities have moved to have his firearms temporarily removed, as is allowed under the state’s so-called yellow flag law?

Gun safety advocates want to revise that law to make it simpler for family members to ask a judge to temporarily separate a person judged harmful to themselves or others from their firearms, as is allowed under stricter red flag laws that exist in 19 states. But one is left wondering whether anyone attempted to apply even the weaker yellow flag law to the alleged shooter. Did the alleged shooter’s family or Army Reserve colleagues even know it exists?

These are questions the Maine Legislature should begin debating. And a full range of laws, including a ban on high-capacity magazines and assault weapons, background checks on private sales, and a red flag law, should be on the table.

Opponents of gun safety laws will argue that, even with its lax laws, Maine has relatively little gun violence, that restrictions on gun ownership do not deter criminals, and that, well, the Second Amendment trumps all.

But suicide remains a major health issue in Maine, and nationally firearms are the most common means of killing oneself. Though the number of suicides declined last year from the previous year, the overall rate is well above two decades ago. And even the US Supreme Court, the most conservative and pro-gun court in decades, has said that some restrictions on gun ownership are constitutional.

Perhaps the most infuriating argument sure to come from gun rights activists is that most gun owners are law abiding and shouldn’t be put through the hassles and costs imposed by gun safety laws. They will also say that gun violence and mass shootings will occur with or without more restrictions.

The latter is of course true. But data show that the states with the lowest rates of gun fatalities — Hawaii and Massachusetts — also have among the most restrictive gun laws. And as to the former: Are we as a society prepared to say that inconveniences imposed on one group should outweigh the ability to save the lives of some, even a few, of our fellow citizens?

The choice should be clear.

Mental illness did not prevent the Lewiston shooter from getting access to multiple guns

Echo report published in The Maine Monitor by Samantha Hogan, David Dahl and Rose Lundy:

Mass shootings at a bowling alley and bar that left 18 people dead in Lewiston on Wednesday (October 25) evening have brought Maine’s complicated relationship with guns and how to regulate them to the forefront once again.

In the past three years, state lawmakers proposed nearly four dozen bills to regulate the sale, carry and liability of guns in Maine, but most have not passed the Legislature. A “yellow flag” law enacted in 2019, lets law enforcement take guns away from someone they suspect of posing a threat to themselves or others, but officials concede it is underutilized.

Maine ranks in the middle of the pack among other states when it comes to gun safety laws, according to Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control group, and the laws in place appeared to have done little to stop the suspect in the mass shooting in Lewiston.

Maine does not require a permit to carry a firearm in most cases. State lawmakers have rejected proposals for background checks and limits on accessories that make guns more easy to shoot. It also does not have a ban on assault weapons, unlike two other New England states.

Kristen Cloutier (Democrat), who lives in Lewiston and is the Assistant House Majority Leader, said the shooting in her hometown was “surreal and heartbreaking,” and called for “bold” legislative action to address gun violence.

“This has only strengthened my own resolve to do whatever I can to help prevent similar tragedies like this from happening again in other communities. As a state, we must do more to address gun violence and keep ourselves, our families, our friends and our neighbors safe,” Cloutier wrote in a statement to the press.

“Words are not enough — they never have been. We must take bold action,” she added.

The Maine Gun Safety Coalition immediately called on state lawmakers to pass an assault weapons ban calling the events in Lewiston “horrific, senseless tragedies.”

Rep. Rebecca Millett (D-Cape Elizabeth), a member of the state’s Gun Safety Caucus, said it was very difficult to talk about the mass shooting in Lewiston, after spending years fighting “bad gun bills” and trying to advance gun safety laws.

“The years I had to listen to my colleagues stand and say we don’t need gun safety legislation and Maine is the safest place in the country. To have my worst nightmares happen, is just devastating,” Millett said in an interview with The Maine Monitor.

Rep. Jared Golden (D) Maine second district Congressman

In another development, US Rep. Jared Golden, a Lewiston Democrat, told a news conference Thursday evening he would drop his opposition to an assault weapons ban that has stalled in Congress.

“I have opposed efforts to ban deadly weapons of war, like the assault rifle used to carry out this crime,” Golden said. “The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure, which is why I now call on the U.S. Congress to ban assault rifles, like the one used by the sick perpetrator of this mass killing in my hometown of Lewiston, Maine.”

Details emerge about man alleged to have shot 18 people:

A manhunt was underway Thursday by police to find the man suspected of firing multiple shots at two locations, killing 18 and wounding 13. Photos released by law enforcement show a man carrying a semiautomatic style rifle.

The suspect, Robert R. Card, 40, of Bowdoin, has a history of mental health problems and is a trained firearms instructor, according to the Associated Press.

Card is a petroleum supply specialist and Sgt. 1st Class in the Army Reserve, a spokesperson for the U.S. Army confirmed to the Portland Press Herald Thursday. The spokesperson told the newspaper that Card enlisted in 2002 and has received multiple awards but has not been deployed in combat.

The Sun Journal reported that Card had spent two weeks at a mental health facility this summer. It is unknown if Card was voluntarily admitted or involuntarily committed to the facility.

People who are involuntarily committed to a psychiatric hospital by a district court may not own or possess firearms in Maine, according to state law. Violating the law is a class D misdemeanor crime.

The Associated Press reported Thursday that police took Card for an evaluation in mid-July after military officials grew concerned about his erratic behavior while he was training with the U.S. Army Reserves at the Military Academy at West Point in New York, according to an official who spoke to the AP, on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the information. The official told the AP that military commanders called the New York state police, who took Card to the Keller Army Community Hospital for evaluation.

When asked at a press briefing why Card was able to access a gun despite his reported history of mental health challenges, Mike Sauschuck, commissioner of the Maine Department of Public Safety, said “those are all valid questions and certainly questions that we are looking into now, but not questions that we can answer today,” given the ongoing manhunt.

Maine grapples with foreseeable harm

Maine legislators passed the “yellow flag” law in 2019, that allows police to petition a court to remove guns from a person that a medical expert says presents “a likelihood of foreseeable harm” to themselves or others either because of suicidal or violent threats against others.

The Associated Press reported that Maine’s yellow flag law is weaker than so-called “red flag” laws found in some 20 other states. The Maine law requires police first to get a medical practitioner to evaluate the person and find them to be a threat before police can petition a judge to order the person’s firearms to be seized, the AP said.

It was not clear Thursday if the law came into play regarding the suspect in the Lewiston shooting.

Maine’s yellow flag law is underused, police acknowledge. Maine Public Radio reported that the law was used two dozen times in the first two years it was in effect. Earlier this year, law enforcement noted that the law is “not being used on a regular and responsive basis” and cited a lack of available medical professionals to complete the assessments, according to a report.

Barbara Cardone, spokeswoman for the state judicial branch, said Thursday involuntary commitment orders and petitions under the “yellow flag” law are confidential court records. She declined to say whether any such court records existed for Card.

“All of these kinds of records are confidential, so I cannot provide you with any information,” Cardone wrote.

Edward Davis, who was Boston’s police commissioner during 2013 Marathon bombings, said the weapon in photos released by police appeared to be an assault-style rifle, most likely an AR-15 or an M-4, which is the military version of the AR-15.

Davis, who now runs his own security company, noted that he spends time in Maine and has had tense conversations with Mainers about gun ownership.

“I have guns, but they need to be regulated,” Davis said in an interview with The Maine Monitor.

The suspect in the shootings, Card, has a history of mental health problems. “We should have an absolute prohibition on anybody like that having guns,” Davis said.

Maine will now grapple with how to respond to one of its worst mass casualty events.

Similar shootings have shaken the country, including the 2022, Buffalo grocery store shooting that killed 10, and the 2021, spa shooting spree in Atlanta that killed eight people.

“We continue to monitor the horrific situation in the greater Lewiston area as the manhunt is underway for the person of interest in the Lewiston mass shooting. We grieve for the families of the 18 who were killed and 13 injured in this senseless tragedy,” Maine House Republicans said in a news release on Thursday.

Stephen King, famous Maine horror and science fiction author, said on X, formerly known as Twitter, Thursday morning that these kinds of shootings don’t happen in other countries.

“The shootings occurred less than 50 miles from where I live,” he wrote to his 7 million followers. “I went to high school in Lisbon. It’s the rapid-fire killing machines, people. This is madness in the name of freedom. Stop electing apologists for murder.”

A tired fight for change

Everytown For Gun Safety, a gun safety advocacy group, ranked Maine 25th in the nation in terms of gun laws.

Maine law prohibits any person convicted of a crime and sentenced to a year or more in prison from possessing a firearm. People under a protection from abuse order for harassing, stalking or threatening an intimate partner or child also may not possess a gun.

State lawmakers in recent years have rejected ideas to prohibit people from possessing “rapid-fire modification” devices for guns that increase the number of bullets that can be shot at one time or to require background checks for purchasers at private gun shows.

Maine lawmakers also rejected a proposed background check exemption for people with concealed weapons permits when they go to purchase a firearm, and legislation that would regulate the manufacture, distribution and possession of “untraceable and undetectable” firearms.

A proposal that would allow certain people to carry concealed handguns on school property narrowly failed in the Maine Legislature in June.

Several more pieces of gun legislation are expected to be discussed by lawmakers next year when the Legislature reconvenes in January.

Millett, the lawmaker from Cape Elizabeth, has a bill that would allow a person to bring a civil lawsuit against gun manufacturers for selling “abnormally dangerous” guns, because the product was “most suitable for assaultive purposes” rather than hunting, self-defense or sport, or because it converts a legal firearm into an illegal firearm, or is marketed to minors.

She said in an interview Thursday it is time for legislators to listen to the people they represent and to be proactive about gun safety.

Still, lawmakers will face barriers to getting substantial legislation passed next year while they meet for a short time and with restrictions on the kinds of bills that can be worked on.

“We had a host of bills this past session and a good deal of them didn’t go anywhere,” Millett said. “And now that we’re in the short session there’s a lot less latitude for legislators to put in any new legislation for consideration.”

At least one proposed bill that will go to lawmakers next year would restore gun rights to some people convicted of nonviolent crimes if they are not convicted or any additional crimes and 10 years have passed. Criminal law experts have already raised multiple concerns about how the bill is written.

Ten states, including Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, have assault weapons bans.

On the federal level, President Joe Biden again called for a ban on assault weapons following the shooting in Lewiston.

Biden urged Congressional Republicans to work with Democrats to pass a bill that would ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. He also called for universal background checks, safe storage of guns and an end to liability immunity for gun manufacturers.

Lewiston and all of Maine share our emotions of grief and sorrow

 Dora Anne Mills, MD, MPH

The View from Maine

October 27, 2023

Lewiston, Maine

So many friends from around the country and world have kindly reached out that I thought I would share a bit what things are like in Maine, from my personal perspective.

We find ourselves in such an unimaginable situation that many of us are struggling to figure out what to write, what to say, and what to do. The mixture of conflicting feelings - from shock, anger, numbness, to grief - complicates the situation.

Unlike most states, Maine is one big small town. With only just over one million people in the entire state, we’re a close-knit community. We’re the most rural state in the nation, with about 61% of our population living in rural communities, versus 19% nationally. Our largest city, Portland, only has 68,000, which would be considered a town in many other places. We often say that the “six degrees of separation” is about a half degree in Maine. We still only have one area code, 207, which is a part of our identity, along with lobsters, lighthouses, and pine trees.

Maine is a lot like Cheers, a place where everybody knows your name, where they’re always glad you came. And like Cheers, Maine communities have many gathering spots, like bowling alleys with leagues, and bars with corn hole, pool, and dart tournaments.

Indeed, on Wednesday evening (October 25), a Lewiston bowling alley was hosting its weekly youth night with a number of older mentors sharing their love for the game. And a bar and grill a few miles away was holding its regular corn hole tournament, including one with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing community.

Then, that life and those lives were shattered.

As the names of the victims emerge, there are many of us and/or our family members, coworkers, and friends who know them or know their loved ones. Maine communities are like a tightly-woven blanket, with threads that are inextricably linked. Below is a site with brief biographies on the victims the Portland Press Herald is posting, updating, and making freely available. Even in these brief summaries, one can sense the various ways in which these community members’ lives were threaded across the community of Maine. And how as these 18 threads become unraveled, our blanket is left with gaping and bloodstained holes.

Compounding the situation is that as I write this, the alleged shooter/mass murderer was not yet found. Tens of thousands live in areas that were in lockdown, which covers a two-county area about three-quarters the size of Rhode Island. Even in areas a couple of hours from Lewiston, schools, daycares, and many businesses are closed. Grocery stores are closed in the lockdown and adjacent communities. LL Bean, which is famous for being open 24x7 every day of the year, is closed for the second day in a row. Some aspects of life are eerily quiet. And in that quiet, there is tension, since life the way we have known has been shattered.

Many felt Maine was immune from much of the gun violence seen in other states. After all, Maine has been being ranked by the FBI as the safest state in the nation. On average, Maine sees about 20 homicides per year, representing some of the lowest rates in the country. This is despite Maine having high gun ownership rates, with an estimated 45% of households with guns (2016 data). But after Wednesday evening’s horrific rampage, it is clearer to everyone that we are not immune.

Indeed, if mass murder gun violence can happen in Maine, it can happen anywhere in the United States.

Friday Night Addendum: We are relieved to know that the killer's body was found this evening. We can move around freely again, knowing he is no longer a threat. But the shock of losing so many wonderful people is just sinking In.

Resources:

States rurality:

https://www.americashealthrankings.org/.../pct_rural/ME

Portland Press Herald Lewiston victims' biographies:

https://www.pressherald.com/.../lives-lost-in-lewiston.../.

US News state rankings on crime:

https://www.usnews.com/.../10-safest-states-in-america

US CDC state homicide data:

https://www.cdc.gov/.../homicide_mortality/homicide.htm

Gun ownership estimates by states 1980-2016:

https://www.rand.org/pubs/tools/TL354.htmlhe

Maine Gun Safety Coalition: https://www.mainegunsafety.org/

The Maine Gun Safety Coalition grieves with the families and friends who lost loved ones in the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. We watched in horror as the tragedy in Lewiston happened before our eyes – the result of our state's weak gun laws. We call on our elected officials tonight to stop bowing to the gun lobby and look squarely at the face of what has happened in Maine’s second largest city. At a minimum, the Maine Gun Safety Coalition believes an assault weapons ban is necessary to try to prevent more such tragedies in our state.  From Camilla Shannon, Board Chair.

Maine failed yellow flag law apparantly not accessed to identify and prohibit the mass murderer

“It is far too easy for people with dangerous histories to get guns.” Lindsay Nichols policy director at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Maine's yellow flag law was flawed and in fact failed.

Associated Press echo report by Patrick Whittle, Lindsay Whitehurst and Marc Levy:

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Barely four years before a gunman’s deadly rampage in Maine, a state that is staunchly protective of gun rights, the governor signed a law aimed at preventing a mass shooting like the one Wednesday night that claimed at least 18 lives.

It was called a “yellow flag” law, different from the “red flag” laws cropping up in other states to seize weapons from gun owners viewed as a threat. 

In a sign of the pro-Second Amendment mindset in Maine, a gun-rights group helped write the law, and critics said that, while it was a first step toward stronger gun safety measures, the state could save more lives by doing more — like passing a red flag law.

The yellow flag law and permissive gun measures in Maine are coming under greater scrutiny in the aftermath of a massacre that authorities say was carried out by a man who was committed to a mental health facility for two weeks this past summer and had reported “hearing voices and threats to shoot up” a military base.

It was not clear whether anyone had used the yellow flag law in the suspect’s case, but gun-control advocates on Thursday blamed the killings on what one called Maine’s “weak gun laws.”

Eighteen victims who were murdered by the mass murderer in Lewiston Maine

Vice President Kamala Harris said gun violence is the leading cause of death for children in the U.S. and called on Congress to pass stronger laws, including making background checks universal, passing a red flag law and banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

“It is a false choice to suggest we must choose between either upholding the Second Amendment or passing reasonable gun safety laws to save lives,” Harris said in a statement.

On Thursday, the group vowed to try again.

At a minimum, the Maine Gun Safety Coalition wants the state to ban assault weapons to prevent more mass shootings, said Cam Shannon, the group’s chair.

Elected officials must “stop bowing to the gun lobby and look squarely at the face of what has happened in Maine’s second largest city,” Shannon said.

Maine is one of about 20 states that allow permitless carry — having a concealed weapon in public without a permit — and the state has a longstanding culture of gun ownership that is tied to its traditions of hunting and sport shooting.

Gun rights advocates have for years held up Maine as an example of a place with unrestrictive gun laws and little violent crime.
In recent years, anti-gun violence groups in Maine have repeatedly failed in pushing for stronger laws, even with Democratic control of the Legislature and governor’s office.

Wednesday night’s mass shooting is especially difficult to stomach considering the recent failures to strengthen Maine’s gun laws, said Lynn Ellis of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition.

“It’s infuriating,” Ellis said.

Those failures include a statewide referendum in 2016 in which voters defeated a proposal to expand background checks on gun purchases. Earlier this year, lawmakers rejected proposals to require background checks for private gun sales and create a 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases.

Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has also voiced skepticism of some gun control proposals in recent years.

A proposal for a red flag law that more than 20 states have adopted failed in 2019 in favor of the yellow flag law that backers said would stop suicides and protect both the public and the constitutional rights of gun owners.

The yellow flag law had the support of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine, which was instrumental in writing it and viewed other states’ red flag laws as unconstitutional. Some also saw the suicide rate as a far bigger concern in Maine than mass shootings.

Under it, law enforcement can detain someone they suspect is mentally ill and poses a threat to themselves or others.

The law differs from red flag laws in that it requires police first to get a medical practitioner to evaluate the person and find them to be a threat before police can petition a judge to order the person’s firearms to be seized.

Gun-control advocates had criticized the law as ham-handed and unlikely to be used by families who don’t want to traumatize a loved one by having them taken into custody.

Republican U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said she thinks a ban on high-capacity magazines is the best approach to stop this kind of gun violence. She also said at a news conference that from what she has heard, the yellow flag law should have been enforced.

“The fact, the suspect was hospitalized for two weeks for mental illness should have triggered the yellow flag law. He should have been separated from his weapons,” Collins said at a news conference Thursday in Lewiston. “I’m sure that after the fact, that it’s going to be looked at very closely.”

But the limited details released by police don’t make it clear whether the yellow flag law should have stopped the suspect in the Lewiston shootings or where he got any guns he used.

It’s also not clear whether the suspect’s commitment to a mental health facility triggered a federal restriction against possessing guns.

Since the 1960s, federal law and most states have prohibited people from possessing guns if they have been formally committed to a mental health facility, said Lindsay Nichols, policy director at the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

Not everyone who stays at a facility is considered formally committed, though. Formal commitment is a court process that’s usually required to keep someone at a facility longer than about 14 days, she said.

A judge typically must approve a formal commitment, which is then sent to the background-check system required for gun purchases at licensed firearm dealers. If someone tries to buy a gun after being committed to a facility, it appears on a background check and the gun store won’t sell the weapon.

But there have been errors in that system. For instance, authorities don’t always submit the correct information about a commitment quickly enough to the national background check system.

And even if a hold is in the system, background checks aren’t required at unlicensed or private sellers in many states.

“It is far too easy for people with dangerous histories to get guns,” Nichols said. “Policymakers need tighter restrictions so guns can be kept away from people who are dangerous.”

Overall, however, people with mental illnesses are not at a significantly higher risk of being violent towards others than those without a diagnosis, she said.

In fact, people with mental illnesses are far more likely to be victims of violent crime than perpetrators, and access to firearms is a big part of the problem, mental health experts say.

On Thursday morning, gun control advocates in the state began organizing and the Maine Legislature’s gun safety caucus met. Democratic state Rep. Kristen Cloutier, a former Lewiston mayor, called the shootings “surreal and heartbreaking” and called for stronger measures to prevent gun violence.

“This has only strengthened my own resolve to do whatever I can to help prevent similar tragedies like this from happening again in other communities,” Cloutier said.

Experiencing justifiable anxiety resulting from mass shooting slaughters

MaineBiz reports by Alexis Wells: For Mainers, a sense of trust and safety has been shattered, while parents may be unsure how to speak to their children about the violence and help them feel safe. Resources are available for those struggling with mental health or trying to cope with loss.

“The Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) encourages anyone affected by the violence in Lewiston to reach out and connect with behavioral health support,” the department said in a statement.

Senator Angus King newsletter: On Wednesday, October 11, Maine the county were horrified by the terrible news about the deadly tragedy in Lewiston. 

And given that the murder suspect remains unfound, we cannot yet move beyond fear to grief.

Eighteen precious lives were senselessly taken during this shocking act of violence, with more than ten injured for doing nothing more than living their lives on a Wednesday night — and my heart is heavy for the families who are mourning this unthinkable loss.

I took the first flight I could get yesterday morning to do everything in my power to support the Lewiston community and everyone impacted by this tragedy. I met with the Governor, the Mayors of Lewiston and Auburn, city councilors of both cities, first responders and medical professionals — sharing my deepest gratitude for their exhausting work and commitment.

If you are in an area currently under shelter in place orders, I ask that you please stay indoors and report any suspicious behavior to local authorities.

This is a challenging time for everyone who calls this great state home, and I want you to know that my thoughts are with you right now. Maine is a big small town connected by long roads — and in times like these, we go the extra mile to look after one another and give comfort and reassurance in any way we can.

I also want to share a few resources below for anyone in need of support in the wake of this tragedy:

If you are experiencing a medical emergency, please call 911.

If you or someone you know is talking about suicide or feelings of hopelessness, please seek help immediately and call or text 988.

Teens and young adults can text The National Alliance on Mental Illness’ Teen Text Line at (207) 515-8398 for support.

Clinicians, educators, and first responders can call The FrontLine WarmLine at 1-800-769-9819 for support managing the stress of responding to disasters.

And if you are outside of Androscoggin County and looking to help the community during this time, please use this link to find your nearest American Red Cross blood donation location.

Please take care and stay safe,

Angus

Maine Congressman Jared Golden stands in front of Senator Susan Collins to oppose assault weapons

Echo report published in the Boston Globe by Samantha J. Gross:
"‘The time has now come’: Maine congressman Jared Golden reverses course on assault weapons ban."

LEWISTON, Maine- Representative Jared Golden of Maine, a Democrat, pulled a rare move in politics on Thursday night: He publicly reversed course, admitting he was wrong on an important issue. In this case, his stance on assault weapons.

In 2022, Golden was one of two Democrats to vote against raising the minimum age to purchase semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21. Golden and four other Democrats also joined Republicans in voting against a bill banning assault weapons in 2022.

In the wake of the deadly shootings in his hometown of Lewiston, Maine, the Marine Corps veteran on Thursday called on Congress to ban the weapons.

Golden said: I have opposed efforts to ban deadly weapons of war like the assault rifle he used to carry out this crime. The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure. Which is why I now call on the United States congress to ban assault rifles.

”I have opposed efforts to ban deadly weapons of war, like the assault rifle used to carry out this crime,” he said. “The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure.”

Golden, who lives in Lewiston and represents Maine’s vast Second Congressional District, said there is “a false confidence that our community was above” a mass shooting. He added that because of his determination to protect his daughter, wife, and his home community, he is now opposed to what he called “deadly weapons of war.”

“Sometimes things happen that bring your worst nightmares to life. Yesterday, this is what happened,” he said. “I will do everything I have to support this community’s recovery.”

Golden’s district, which he first won in 2018, is the largest east of the Mississippi River, the second-most rural in the country, and the only slice of New England where President Donald Trump won an electoral vote in 2016. Trump carried the district again in 2020, earning one of the state’s four electoral votes.

Maine Senator Susan Collins, on the contrary, doubled down on her stance against an expansion of the assault weapons ban.

Collins, who voted against expanding the assault weapons ban after the 2012, shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in which a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educators, said she has not changed her stance given the Lewiston shootings.

While she supported the original ban, the proposal to extend it “was based not on legality, and more on how they looked,” she told reporters at a news conference at Lewiston City Hall on Thursday night.

”I did not think that that was appropriate,” she said. “We do have a Second Amendment in our country. And Maine has one of the highest rates of gun ownership in the country and has a long heritage of responsible gun ownership and a very low rate of violence.”

She noted that she was a co-author of the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which provided funding for red and yellow “flag laws,” and for mental health clinics.

She added that she was the lead Republican sponsor a bill that would ban bump stocks, which have the ability to turn a semi-automatic into a fully automatic machine gun.

“Certainly there’s always more that can be done,” she said.