BELLEVUE, WA – The Second Amendment Foundation contends there were significant warning signs which should have prevented the suspected mass killer in Lewiston, Maine from having a firearm, and also notes the places where two fatal attacks occurred were essentially “gun-free zones,” making them easy targets.
“As we have noted in our educational ad campaign,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, “gun-free zones essentially make the people in those places nothing more than sitting ducks in a shooting gallery.”
A sign at the door of the bowling alley says, “We kindly ask that you refrain from bringing firearms in this building and we would appreciate it if you left them in your vehicle. Please keep our atmosphere family friendly.” That notice did not stop the suspect from entering and opening fire.
“There is some speculation the Just-in-Time bowling alley and Schemengees Bar & Grille were targeted by the suspect,” Gottlieb said, “and we are waiting for confirmation from investigators. What is a certainty, however, is that the suspect has a recent history of mental health problems including spending two weeks in a mental health facility recently, after hearing voices and threatening to shoot up a military facility near the town of Saco. Under Maine’s ‘yellow flag’ law, there is a process for police to trigger which allows them to confiscate firearms from people at risk. There was no attempt to confiscate his firearms despite the warning signs.”
“As expected,” Gottlieb said, “the gun prohibition crowd—including President Joe Biden—immediately started banging the drum for more restrictions on the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens who have harmed nobody. In fact, reports are surfacing that Maine residents have either armed themselves or have told the media they want to be armed.
“The suspect’s reported condition this past summer should have made him a prohibited person from gun possession,” Gottlieb stated. “The knee-jerk demands from anti-gunners, from Joe Biden on down, to penalize honest citizens amounts to a disgusting exploitation of a horrible tragedy for which one person alone is responsible. Disarming gun owners has never helped prevent a crime in the past, and it certainly won’t prevent tragedies in the future.”