BELLEVUE, WA – New revelations in the aftermath of the mass shooting which took 18 lives in Maine provide growing evidence authorities failed when they might have prevented the deadly attack, the Second Amendment Foundation is noting, while criticizing calls for a slate of new, restrictive gun control laws.
The Boston Globe reported that the killer was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital in July, and an article in Reason noted the man’s family told police of their concerns about his mental state five months before the Lewiston rampage. Instead of focusing on these failures, anti-gunners from President Joe Biden on down the scale have dragged out their well-worn and repeatedly rejected gun control agenda as a response, SAF said.
“Biden and his fellow gun prohibitionists literally jumped at the opportunity to exploit another tragedy to push gun control schemes which would not have prevented the mayhem,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb. “They want background checks, which the killer passed. They call for waiting periods, but the gun recovered by police was legally purchased months ago, weeks after his family contacted authorities and prior to his hospital confinement.
“Contrary to what Michael Bloomberg’s Everytown group is saying about so-called ‘weak gun laws’ in Maine,” he added, “this case, like so many in the past, is revealing a failure by local authorities to act on reliable information and utilize existing laws. As a result, some Maine Democrats are now hinting at a new spate of gun restrictions which will accomplish nothing except to penalize honest citizens and erode their Second Amendment rights.”
“Individuals who are involuntarily committed are already prohibited under federal law from possessing firearms and ammunition,” noted SAF Executive Director Adam Kraut. “The constant calls for additional laws after such a tragedy, particularly when the government abdicated its responsibility, are misguided and serve no purpose other than to exponentially increase the heft of the criminal code books for no material gain. The agenda of the gun prohibitionists demonstrates they only wish to pass laws for self-serving purposes.”
The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 720,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.
