Some answers are starting to come out about the Lewiston, Maine shooter. For example, why wasn't the shooter a prohibited person? Apparently, he was involuntarily committed to a mental health facility. As I understand it, that would make him a prohibited person at the Federal level. As it turns out, according to Cam Edwards at Bearing Arms, Maine Police Say Lewiston Shooter WAS Prohibited From Possessing Guns.
As local, state, and federal law enforcement continue to search for the man believed to be responsible for the murder of 18 people and injuries to 13 others in Lewiston, Maine on Wednesday evening, information about the suspect continues to trickle out from official sources.
One important question has now been answered, and it turns out that the suspected killer was prohibited from purchasing or possessing guns.
According to the State Bureau of Investigation, Card is categorized as “Federal Firearms Disqualified Status,” though it remains unclear what law barred him from possessing a firearm. A list of Mainers who have had their weapons confiscated through the state’s “yellow flag law” does not appear to include anyone matching Card. A spokesperson for the state police did not respond to a message asking for clarification about why Card was prohibited.
meanwhile, Edwards also has a piece at Bearing Arms that points out that 2021 Photo Shows First Target of Lewiston Shooter WAS a "Gun Free Zone". So-called "gun free zones" are what I like to call target rich environments for mass killers. Indeed, those who are contemplating a mass killing look for such places to carry out their nefarious plans. After all, no one likes his plans interupted by a good guy with a gun shooting back.
I get a kick out of this spoof on the notion of "gun free zones." But of course, the point here is that a "gun free zone" is only gun free for the law abiding. It is a way for politicians to look like they are "doing something" but such zones don't stop a determined criminal.
Upadate: Andrea Widburg at the American Thinker has more on this entitled The Maine bowling alley where so many died is a gun free zone.
I haven’t written about the Maine shooting because a lot of the things one can say are so painfully obvious. It was a heartbreaking tragedy, and there is evil in the world. In this case, the evil manifested itself through a person who was, apparently, a delusional schizophrenic who admitted to hearing voices. What I couldn’t figure out, though, was how this shooting occurred in Maine, a Second Amendment-friendly state. Now I know: The killer went to one, and maybe two, gun-free zones.
Maine, like many northern coastal states, is very leftist along the coast and very conservative inland. That conservativism shows in the fact that Maine has not attacked the Second Amendment. Instead, its Constitution strongly reinforces it: “Every citizen has the right to keep and bear arms and this right shall never be questioned.” (Maine Const., Art. 1, Sec. 16.)
With that mindset, it’s no wonder that Maine is a constitutional carry state with a “shall issue” rule for concealed carry permit requests. There are no bans on long guns, including semi-automatic long guns, and there are no restrictions on magazine size. Given Maine’s willingness to let ordinary citizens carry guns, I couldn’t understand how nobody tried to shoot back.
Well, it turns out that, as in all states that allow open or concealed carry, individual establishments may ask that people who enter disarm themselves before doing so. In the case of the Maine shooting, at least one of the locations the killer attacked politely required people to disarm themselves before entering....snip...
Clearly, the killer ignored the sign. I have names for those places that force ordinary people to disarm: “Turkey shoots.” Or “fish in a barrel” shooting zones. Or “magnets for would-be mass shooters.”
Let me go back to my original point: Evil exists. There will always be people who, because they are delusional or psychopathic, want to kill. However, in America, at least for now, most people are not evil. They do not want to die, and they do not want to kill. If they carry arms, it’s solely so that they can defend against those who wish to kill them and other innocents.
Gentle readers should read everything, especially Andrea's post. Once again, she nails it.
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