Maine has comparatively lax firearms legal guidelines but in addition boasts one of many lowest firearms associated deaths charges within the nation.
Maine doesn’t have a “red flag” legislation which can have prevented a mass shooter in Lewiston from accessing the gun he used to kill greater than a dozen, in keeping with gun management advocacy teams, as early reporting signifies the shooter made particular threats of violence.
“The state does not have an Extreme Risk law, also known as a ‘red flag’ law, to empower families and law enforcement to prevent tragedies before they happen,” Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun management lobbying group, writes of the state.
A “yellow flag” system used within the state, that may have required the intervention of a medical skilled and sworn testimony from a legislation enforcement official with a view to take away the weapons utilized in Wednesday’s taking pictures from the alleged killer’s possession, might have been useful if carried out.
“Though Maine has taken some steps to keep guns out of the hands of those who shouldn’t have them, state leaders must do more to prevent gun violence,” Everytown writes.
Since 2015 Maine has been among the many greater than half of U.S. states that permits adults over the age of 21 to hold hid handguns with no allow. Reporting signifies the shooter was armed with an extended gun.
Gun sellers will not be required to carry out background checks for gross sales past these carried out to adjust to federal legal guidelines, which test largely for prison findings, and there’s no ready interval required to take possession of a brand new gun.
There are not any restrictions on the possession of fashionable taking pictures platforms just like the AR-15 or journal dimension.
Despite these apparently lax legal guidelines, in keeping with knowledge offered by the CDC, Maine additionally ranks pretty effectively when held in opposition to different states relating to gun violence. At a price of 11.2 per 100,000, Maine’s yearly gun deaths are effectively beneath that 38 different states. Of 163 folks shot and killed there yearly, nearly 90% die by their very own hand.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”