There’s an official sign on an overpass just after entering Maine on I-95. It says, “Maine: The Way Life Should Be.” On occasion I’ve thought this state is safe from gun violence. When some of the population was on lockdown/sheltering in place, it reminded me of how I felt during the riots in Cincinnati after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination.
This mass shooting will be blamed on mental illness along with the usual thoughts and prayers. It doesn’t matter whether the suspect had military and firearms instructor experience, spent two weeks in a mental health facility this summer, or threatened to shoot up his Army reserve unit, as his second amendment rights weren’t breached. Maybe the AR-15 style weapon was part of the problem.
Although I caused enough psychological damage when I had a mental breakdown, I was fortunate to turn the anguish toward myself. If I had a gun instead of pills, my mother-in-law, my brother-in-law and my wife would have gotten there too late. Nowadays a gun is therapy for what one person thinks is wrong with the world. What’s wrong is that we have a gun to shoot — and not shoot a vaccine. Prevention is the only answer.
Doug Yohman
Waterboro