"This is a dark day for Maine," Governor Janet Mills repeats in a news conference.
Yesterday, October 25th, at least eighteen people were killed in a mass shooting in a crowded bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, Maine, a population of a mere 40,000.
Authorities are still on the hunt for the gunman, identified as Robert Card age 40, who should be considered as "armed and dangerous". He was last seen wearing a brown sweatshirt and carrying a military-style semiauto rifle. Along these lines, the US Army's Public Affairs office found that his name and date of birth matched that of a sergeant first class in the Army Reserve, and that he was enlisted in December of 2002 but did not have any combat deployment.
Of those who passed, seven were found deceased at the bowling alley, eight at a nearby bar, and out of fourteen who went to the hospital, three were pronounced dead.
This shooting has had profound immediate impacts on the state of Maine. Due to the small population of the surrounding area, Mayor Levesque of Auburn states, "We are all going to know someone who is a victim." Schools in the neighboring cities of Auburn and Lisbon are shut down today, and certain schools like Bates College remain on lockdown. Authorities have asked local residents to "shelter in place" and many businesses have remained closed.
The FBI and other federal agencies are on the ground working with the Maine state police to track down the gunman.
Maine's gun laws are relatively lenient. They don't have an independent background check system, no red flag laws, or permit requirements for concealed weapons. However, this may just be a byproduct (up until now) of the lack of activity in this scarcely populated state. When issuing a statement on this tragedy, President Biden urged Republican lawmakers to "fulfill their duty to protect the American people" by working with the Democrats to increase gun restrictions throughout the country.
It's easy to write this on the opposite coast of this tragedy, and so I feel an immense amount of privilege that it wasn't my own community that was struck by such an event. But it could be. My hometown of Foster City is approximately the size of Lewiston- could you imagine how a shooting of this magnitude would impact our own area?
I unequivocally believe that legislation needs to reflect the dire state of our nation. We lead the world in gun violence, and this trend isn't getting any better. Between the inability to compromise in Congress, the battle between State and Federal policies, and the culture around firearms, our country certainly has drastic, immobile problems that contribute to the gun violence epidemic.
Sources: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/10/25/us/lewiston-maine-shooting
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/lewiston-maine-shooting-manhunt-gunman-police-live-rcna122270
9 comments:
When another mass shooting occurs in our country, our first instinct is to console those affected by the tragedy. Our next step seems to be to continue as normal, it is appalling that the debate over gun restrictions seems so set in stone that no one considers such a massive tragedy a turning point. News outlets highlight both sides of the debate but we have heard the phrases "some call for restrictions or banning of guns, while others argue it is a fundamental right" so much that the process of progressing in the debate is not even a consideration, the debate is polarized and unchanging, no matter how many more people die at the hands of people who can too easily find firearms. I believe, not only that something in gun policy must be changed to reduce the unnecessary American violence, but that something has to change in how America communicates so that more minds can see the pain guns cause. This has ultimately been the subject of some of our in-class talks, around the state of polarization of parties and and the media's role in it, fixing it is another issue, I am not equipped to answer, but one that needs to be answered.
18 people killed and 13 injured just by one man. And he was using a "military-style semiautomatic rifle". As Gabe has mentioned, the debate on gun control and gun rights has been extremely controversial, without much progression. However, here is some good news: the Representative of Maine, Jared Golden, has called for a ban on assault rifles, which was a complete reversal of his stance on gun rights. This was a direct reaction to the Lewiston shootings, which were in his hometown. And what's surprising, is that he is not only a member, but the chair of the Blue Dog Coalition, which are the centrist members of the Democratic Party. This reversal is not characteristic of a Blue Dog, instead, it is a much more liberal or left-leaning view on gun control. What Gabe said about "something has to change in how America communicates so that more minds can see the pain guns cause" struck a chord: when Jared Golden had his hometown become a victim of a mass shooting, he completely changed his opinion. However effective having personal connections to tragic events is, it is not a way to address an issue like gun control. And with the polarization within our nation, I'm not really sure how or when we will ever arrive at a answer.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/26/politics/jared-golden-assault-weapons-ban-lewiston/index.html
I agree with Gabe and Sean that "something has to change in how American communicates so that more minds can see the pain guns cause." Everytime we hear of a mass shooting, its on the news for a couple of days and we don't hear anything about it, and most of us forget. That is the news outlets agenda setting, influncing what topics get more coverage and importance. All we are hearing about is Isreal and Gaza war and not much about the shooting. I also found it interesting that the Representative of Maine Jared Golden called for a ban on assault rifles as Sean mention after the shooting. Why is it that change is always made after the tragedy occurs even though mass shooting have become a very common thing in the United States. In May of 2022 a shooting also occured In Buffalo N.Y, this shooting was carried out by a 19 year old. The shotting was classied as a racist attack. This is just one example where politicall officials and the government can see that changes need to be made to keep our communities safe.
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/28/nyregion/buffalo-shooting-guilty-plea.html
I agree with Dayrin that the media's lack of in-depth attention to shootings remove them from the policy agenda of the government. I, too, am frustrated with the lack of progress on this issue, especially since, as progress stalls, more people are dying by gun violence.
I wanted to add why action is not necessarily obvious when it comes to gun violence. According to the Pew Research Center, people are evenly split regarding gun ownership. 49% believe gun ownership increases safety, and 49% believe it reduces safety. Politicians take into account their own opinion, the opinion of their political party, and public opinion when they vote. To find that people are split on how to approach gun ownership can help explain why laws are split when dealing with gun violence.
Nonetheless, more and more Americans are agreeing that gun violence is a real, significant national issue, and a majority believe it is too easy to legally get a gun. I hope that, with more coverage of gun shootings and more activism against gun violence, solutions can be found and implemented to resolve this issue.
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/09/13/key-facts-about-americans-and-guns/
I am a strong believer that if your right to owning and using a firearm encroaches on my right not to die of gun violence, then you should not own a firearm. The main point of the constitution was to grant the people of America life, liberty and the ability to pursue happiness, and no one can do that if they have to fear being attacked at a bowling alley of all places, where they may just be trying to enjoy a nice night out with their families, not thinking that they may be murdered the same night. What gun-owners seem to be have a hard time understanding is that nobody would die of gun violence if nobody had access to guns. I am totally in favor of an all-out ban, because if your goal with a gun is "increasing your personal safety," then you've failed to realize that the only reason you'd need to do that is if there is something to be safe from. With the growing crisis that is gun violence, I think it's very easy to see that gun violence is, at the moment, the greatest detriment to personal safety, and if you own a gun, no matter how responsible you are with it, you are the problem. There are so many stories of young troubled teenagers taking their parents' firearms for a joy ride at school, and while people may argue that it isn't the parents' fault, it isn't NOT their fault either. The kid would not have the gun if it wasn't for the parents having the gun, and while the parents aren't the ones doing the shooting, they are the ones who (unintentionally albeit) supplied the weapon, and they bear that responsibility for making a firearm available to their child by owning it. Owning a gun makes you part of the problem.
It breaks my heart to hear about any shooting, and especially this one and the conditions of it. To be in a public place that the person had to know there would be family and people having fun, is just awful to think about. This is another situation where the conversation of gun control laws is brought up, because how would this situation show reasons to keep guns? After seeing so many shootings constantly, it almost feels like people just forget about them. However, knowing that this happened in a small town, the community will suffer immensely. We need to remember the severity of the situation and stop looking it as just statistics or numbers, and with more coverage on it, hopefully we can take steps to make bigger changes.
Thank you for bringing more light to yet another consequence of our nation's lack of gun control. I recently came across a political comic demonstrating America's neglect of mental health resources for citizens but largely active engagement in making guns accessible and it just filled me with fear. This incident just shows where our nation's priorities are and makes me scared that more people will have to keep dying in order for change to occur. I strongly agree with Mikaela's comment on how if one's right to own a gun encroaches on another person's right not to die of gun violence, they shouldn't own a gun. It just goes to show that if guns are purchased for the use of killing others, we should have laws that prevent their purchase. People shouldn't have to die for others to see that.
This shooting should come as no surprise to Americans across the nation given the current gun laws that are in place. The fact that this man killed nearly 20 people while using a military grade automatic weapon is despicable and a testament to our lax gun laws that must be enforced. If this can happen in a small town in Maine, a state with heavy gun restrictions, it can happen anywhere at any time. While politicians continue to hold the victims in their thoughts and prayers, thoughts and prayers never saved anyone or prevented any deaths and never will. Until something is done in the higher ups of our government regarding gun laws, these massacres will continue to happen, paralleling the events of Columbine, Parkland, and Uvalde Texas.
It pains me to learn about any shooting, especially considering the circumstances of this particular incident. The fact that it occurred in a public space, where the perpetrator must have been aware of families and individuals enjoying themselves, is particularly distressing. Instances like these reignite the debate on gun control laws, as it's challenging to find reasons to justify the presence of guns in such situations. Despite the frequency of shootings, there seems to be a tendency for people to overlook them. However, given that this incident took place in a small town, the community is bound to suffer significantly. It's crucial for us to recognize the gravity of such situations beyond mere statistics and numbers. Increased media coverage may serve as a catalyst for meaningful changes to address the issue at its core
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