I am very sad for Maine today. I first fell in love with the state as a young camper, entranced by the earthy smells and serenity; now in adulthood, I routinely travel Downeast every year for that same fix. I have painted its beautiful landscape hundreds of times. The people who live there are funny and kind, I have many friends there now. Mainers are very proud of their state, and so this probably is hitting all of them hard, personally, even if they don’t live near what happened.
Kenneth, I can promise you, I’ll never trash you or anyone else who discusses banning all guns.
First, as a law enforcement officer that’s been on the business end of looking down a barrel of a weapon, or two, I can assure you it’s not fun. It’s not fun, as a law enforcement officer to be forced to discharge your firearm at someone defending yourself, or trying to protect someone else.
My thoughts on this gun situation is probably a harsh one.
First, to purchase a firearm, of any type, you will need to complete a 160 hour FBI firearms training/safety course, and pass it with at least a final score of 98% on the final exam, plus score with high scores on the firing range proficiency test. To even be able to get into this course, you have to pass a medical and psychological examination by government appointed physicians. Plus your application will be scrutinized thoroughly by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. You cannot ever have had any arrest, or convictions of any violent crime. You can never have had any complaints of domestic violence. You can. Ever had any complaints logged by any agency involving any type of weapon. You can never have been in any psychiatric facility voluntary, or involuntarily, for any reason. You can never have any medical history of any type of depression, or any type of psychotic disorder that you received any medications for, or further treatment from a psychologist or psychiatrist.
Second, after completing this course, then you may complete the application to purchase the desired firearm. There will be $2,000 application fee to accompany this application, payable to the law enforcement agencies to complete a thorough investigation and background check from your replies on the application.
Third, after your application is approved, there’s a 60 day waiting period before you may take delivery of this firearm.
Firearms for sale, able to be purchased by citizens:
A. Revolvers
B. Long barrel weapons
1. Only have the ability to hold no more than 3 rounds of ammunition in the chamber, or magazine.
2. No firearm shall have any type of “switch”, “lever”, “button”, or “other type of mechanism”, to make this firearm shoot more than one round at a time with one pull of the trigger. NO FIREARM OF ANY TYPE SHALL HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO FIRE “SEMIAUTOMATIC” OR “AUTOMATIC”.
Me too on banning guns. Also taking the latest massacre very personally. We spent decades vacationing with our children in Maine. My daughter went to college at Bowdoin.
I have a strong affinity for Maine, my mom grew up in Fort Kent, met my dad - a Bangor native - in Skowhegan, got married there and high-tailed it to St Paul in the middle of winter (some creditor stuff, it was the ‘50s, different time) Anyway, my maternal grand-mère never spoke an English word in her life, my mom spoke mostly French until she got to Minnesota, where we grew up learning all the French curse words ... I digress... Maine and Canada across the St John ... well, before 9/11 turned that crossing ugly AF! Then the paper mills shut down and central Maine got strange... anyway, a larger state than most know it to be and mostly beautiful if you didn’t look too hard into the crevices of some Downeaster or Mainers front yard ... Mt Katahdin is nice... it’s sad that such peace could be ripped up by one man with a gun, aided and abetted by ... LePage (Mills is problematic, too!!) and gun nuts in the state leg as well as Congress and our RW media and everyone else who thinks weapons of war are cool.
ANOTHER mass shooting by an unstable person with a gun. This must stop but our "esteemed" politicians will continue to sit on their hands. I am sad, mad and feeling hopeless.
Heartfelt comments from Liza and readers. Maine grabs corporate headlines because mass killings are rare in that beloved neighbor state and it seems to be a spree that is not connected to race. Instead this seems to be work of some one with "troubles..." which may be rooted in problematic tropes of so-called "crazy people" transforming into deranged killers. Charlie Manson from Maine, if you will. And yes, yes, the proliferation of guns is itself insane. Finally, let's pause and add a deeply rooted American twist to all this: these killings emerge out of "our" (white) past of conquest of indigenous nations, slavery, and multiple wars of conquest on this continent and overseas. So the bullets fired in Maine emerge from guns that have been a longstanding defining feature of this country. So sad, to extend the scope of our reflections but these killings stain us all
What do we do? organize diverse jutice-anchored organizations and build community power. The overwhelming majority of people around the globe are repelled by these incidents. And thank you Liza for your heart and sad but welcomed drawings........
Yes, it seems there is more death and oppression every day. Your gun drawing is both poignant and so very sad. We surely could use a miracle in this world about now, to set it back on the correct course.
I will probably get trashed for this but I would ban all guns if I could.
me, too.
Kenneth, I can promise you, I’ll never trash you or anyone else who discusses banning all guns.
First, as a law enforcement officer that’s been on the business end of looking down a barrel of a weapon, or two, I can assure you it’s not fun. It’s not fun, as a law enforcement officer to be forced to discharge your firearm at someone defending yourself, or trying to protect someone else.
My thoughts on this gun situation is probably a harsh one.
First, to purchase a firearm, of any type, you will need to complete a 160 hour FBI firearms training/safety course, and pass it with at least a final score of 98% on the final exam, plus score with high scores on the firing range proficiency test. To even be able to get into this course, you have to pass a medical and psychological examination by government appointed physicians. Plus your application will be scrutinized thoroughly by local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. You cannot ever have had any arrest, or convictions of any violent crime. You can never have had any complaints of domestic violence. You can. Ever had any complaints logged by any agency involving any type of weapon. You can never have been in any psychiatric facility voluntary, or involuntarily, for any reason. You can never have any medical history of any type of depression, or any type of psychotic disorder that you received any medications for, or further treatment from a psychologist or psychiatrist.
Second, after completing this course, then you may complete the application to purchase the desired firearm. There will be $2,000 application fee to accompany this application, payable to the law enforcement agencies to complete a thorough investigation and background check from your replies on the application.
Third, after your application is approved, there’s a 60 day waiting period before you may take delivery of this firearm.
Firearms for sale, able to be purchased by citizens:
A. Revolvers
B. Long barrel weapons
1. Only have the ability to hold no more than 3 rounds of ammunition in the chamber, or magazine.
2. No firearm shall have any type of “switch”, “lever”, “button”, or “other type of mechanism”, to make this firearm shoot more than one round at a time with one pull of the trigger. NO FIREARM OF ANY TYPE SHALL HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO FIRE “SEMIAUTOMATIC” OR “AUTOMATIC”.
And this is just for starters!
Me too on banning guns. Also taking the latest massacre very personally. We spent decades vacationing with our children in Maine. My daughter went to college at Bowdoin.
💔
Deeply saddened, yet again.
🥺😢
I have a strong affinity for Maine, my mom grew up in Fort Kent, met my dad - a Bangor native - in Skowhegan, got married there and high-tailed it to St Paul in the middle of winter (some creditor stuff, it was the ‘50s, different time) Anyway, my maternal grand-mère never spoke an English word in her life, my mom spoke mostly French until she got to Minnesota, where we grew up learning all the French curse words ... I digress... Maine and Canada across the St John ... well, before 9/11 turned that crossing ugly AF! Then the paper mills shut down and central Maine got strange... anyway, a larger state than most know it to be and mostly beautiful if you didn’t look too hard into the crevices of some Downeaster or Mainers front yard ... Mt Katahdin is nice... it’s sad that such peace could be ripped up by one man with a gun, aided and abetted by ... LePage (Mills is problematic, too!!) and gun nuts in the state leg as well as Congress and our RW media and everyone else who thinks weapons of war are cool.
ANOTHER mass shooting by an unstable person with a gun. This must stop but our "esteemed" politicians will continue to sit on their hands. I am sad, mad and feeling hopeless.
Heartfelt comments from Liza and readers. Maine grabs corporate headlines because mass killings are rare in that beloved neighbor state and it seems to be a spree that is not connected to race. Instead this seems to be work of some one with "troubles..." which may be rooted in problematic tropes of so-called "crazy people" transforming into deranged killers. Charlie Manson from Maine, if you will. And yes, yes, the proliferation of guns is itself insane. Finally, let's pause and add a deeply rooted American twist to all this: these killings emerge out of "our" (white) past of conquest of indigenous nations, slavery, and multiple wars of conquest on this continent and overseas. So the bullets fired in Maine emerge from guns that have been a longstanding defining feature of this country. So sad, to extend the scope of our reflections but these killings stain us all
What do we do? organize diverse jutice-anchored organizations and build community power. The overwhelming majority of people around the globe are repelled by these incidents. And thank you Liza for your heart and sad but welcomed drawings........
Yes, it seems there is more death and oppression every day. Your gun drawing is both poignant and so very sad. We surely could use a miracle in this world about now, to set it back on the correct course.
No words.
I know.