Response to mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine

Senseless tragedies like the mass shooting in Lewiston will always cause us to reflect. We’ll reflect on our lives, our jobs and those that we love. Hopefully we allow that reflection to help make us better people. Those who have influence over situations like that will need to reflect on what they can change to ensure it never happens again. In this case, there are some that will instantly jump to banning guns, but I believe this is short-sighted at best. The knee-jerk response to an illegal act should not be to remove the rights of the law-abiding citizens. This is not the type of civilization anybody will want to live in, it won’t allow us to thrive. However, when we analyze the shooting we find things that should change. The shooter chose “gun free zones” as his target, why? People are easy prey in those places where law-abiding citizens are unarmed. We need to review our gun free zone laws to evaluate if they’re all necessary (they’re not). We could create a certification that would allow people to carry a gun legally in gun free zones (teachers in schools, for example). We need our citizens to be able to protect themselves wherever they are. Our legislators can make this happen in 2024. We need to figure out how someone who admitted to the state counselors that he was hearing voices that were telling him to kill a group of people was able to be released after two weeks, and did not have his gun privileges removed and weapons taken away? Our leaders can and need to find these answers and implement corrections to the process in 2024. And then they need to clearly inform the public what steps they took to fix the system that failed in this atrocity. The Maine legislature has passed many laws that have made life harder for Mainers, whether it be the 100 mega watt electricity cap, the subsidized green energy, the regulatory restrictions in building affordable housing, or the ballooned spending of our state (and federal) government. All of it increases our taxes and our life expenses. The significant spike in difficulties over the last few years is causing an increase in mental and emotional turmoil. Our elected officials need to reverse course and make decisions that truly put the PEOPLE FIRST in 2024. Our legislature has passed laws that have made discipline in our schools extremely difficult and our legal system is weakening the consequences of breaking the law in our society to the point where it emboldens the law breakers and scares the law-abiding citizens. Our elected officials need to change this in 2024. We the people need to hold them accountable to do so. 2024 is a major election year in Maine for our state house and senate. We must watch how our legislators respond to this tragedy. If they respond by removing the rights of law-abiding citizens, we need to remove them from office. We must have accountability for our government and have a government that is “people first” in how they govern. Our current government has not been. It’s time for change, Maine, and it starts with us, the people of Maine, standing up!