Letter to the Editor

When did we choose to ignore safety?

Tue, 04/07/2015 - 8:45am

Dear Editor:

LD 652 is a proposed law that “authorizes a person who is not prohibited from possessing a firearm to carry a concealed handgun without a permit.” Really?

The Second Constitutional Amendment, adopted in 1791, protected the people’s right to keep and bear arms. It passed when concealed weapons did not exist. Today, 49 states require a licensed permit for concealed weapons and Maine is proposing to take that protection away and put its citizens at risk of harm.

Are we willing to put a concealed gun in the hands of Charlie Manson, in the hands of spousal abusers, in the hands of all who abuse drugs and alcohol, developing severe paranoia and see strangers as enemies? Will road rage become more dangerous? Will there be more killings of mothers and children, or death in bar fights, or will police not know who or why a person has decided on their own to carry a concealed weapon? No list of names for law enforcement to check.

Do you know that trained police cannot detect when a person is carrying a concealed weapon? I do — first hand information. My life was threatened and police thought he did not have a gun — even though I had warned them. Once I described what I had seen, they understood why they did not detect it. On the next attempt on my life they were able to arrest him for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit. That won’t be true in Maine if this law passes.

I knew a wife who rescued her husband after a bartender called begging her to come and take her husband away. A fight had occurred and one of the patrons, not having a gun, went home to get one to kill her husband. No problem in Maine; if this bill passes, the husband will just be shot.

How naive have I been? I actually believed my legislative representatives were obligated to protect my life and that of my neighbors. Wrong again, Jarryl. If this bill passes it appears increased gun sales are more important than the safety of citizens.

Jarryl Larson

Edgecomb