(Courtesy of Twitter).

There was a mass shooting in Lewiston ME on Oct. 25th.

When I heard the news of the Oct. 25 shooting in Lewiston, Maine, I was not shocked. As absurd as it is to say, growing up in the 21st-century United States has forced me to grow accustomed to mass shootings. This year in the U.S. alone, there have been over 565 mass shootings, with mass shootings defined by the Gun Violence Archive as instances where four or more people are injured or killed due to gun violence. Americans, especially young ones, have asked, begged, screamed, cried and dedicated their lives to the restriction of guns. Still, people — mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children — are dying constantly because of the gun epidemic plaguing our country. We need justice, we need to fight back and we need action now.

On Wednesday, Oct. 25, a gunman opened fire on a bowling alley and restaurant, leaving 18 victims dead and another 13 injured. The gunman then fled and ran as authorities from throughout the state searched for him, while thousands of residents within the region were forced to stay in their homes to ensure their safety. The intensive manhunt lasted two days until the assailant was found dead due to a self-inflicted gun wound. 

Concerns about the shooter’s mental health date back to early this year. He underwent a mental health evaluation last summer after an incident in New York, and his family raised concerns about his deteriorating mental health and access to firearms to the local sheriff as far as five months before the shooting occurred. The Sagadahoc County Sheriff’s Office contacted the shooter’s Army Reserve unit, who then assured them they would address his mental health concern. A sheriff’s deputy conducted a wellness check in September after the shooter threatened to commit a mass shooting, and his unit also decided to take away his military-issued firearms and declare him non-deployable. Still, these efforts were clearly not enough to stop him in his atrocious tracks.

While I was not shocked about another mass shooting taking place, I was deeply saddened and outraged by it. Lewiston is a place that hits particularly close to home for me, as my great-grandpa immigrated from Turkey to Lewiston in the 1920s. My grandmother grew up in Lewiston with eight siblings, and many of her family members still live there. After hearing the news, I called my grandmother to make sure our relatives were safe, and I thank the universe every day they were. Still, Lewiston is a fairly small city, with a population of just under 40,000 people, and the tragedy devastated the tight-knit community.

As near and dear to my heart as Maine is, though, the local government, as well as their congressional representatives, could have and should have done more to prevent mass shootings like this one from occurring. While nearly half of U.S. states have red flag laws used to prevent dangerous individuals from obtaining firearms, Maine is the only state in the nation with a more relaxed “yellow flag” version. To purchase a gun, Maine does not require background checks, weapons registration for firearm owners or permits to carry concealed firearms in public. The yellow flag law allows officers to take a person in crisis into protective custody for them to undergo a medical evaluation, and a judge can then decide on whether to approve an order to remove the person’s access to firearms temporarily. 

This varies from typical red flag law procedures, where anyone who knows someone who poses a threat to themselves or others can petition for a court to remove a person’s access to firearms temporarily. With the yellow flag law, only law enforcement officials can invoke the process, and it can only be triggered by officials who physically take a person into custody. Furthermore, a person cannot be given a firearm restriction unless there is an agreement between a medical practitioner and police officials. Red, or yellow in this case, flag laws are designed for instances like this, where someone in a mental health crisis and who has demonstrated themselves to be a threat is in possession of firearms. Still, it is uncertain whether the law would have worked, as authorities never attempted to use it.

Lewiston Representative Jared Golden has loudly voiced his support of guns throughout his career, going as far as to display himself shooting one in a 2018 campaign ad. Although Golden is a Democrat, he has differed from his party on several gun safety measures, including voting against an assault weapons ban last year. This shooting was enough to change his mind about enforcing strict gun legislation, though. He gave a speech on Oct. 26 stating he was changing his view on banning assault-style weapons. Noting his previous failure to support efforts to ban deadly weapons, he proclaimed, “The time has come for me to take responsibility for that failure,” Golden said. “Which is why I now call on the United States Congress to ban assault rifles like the one used by the sick perpetrator of this mass killing.” Golden’s ability to admit his previous faults and change his mind to become dedicated to combating gun violence is an uncommon move in modern-day politics but deeply commendable. 

The United States has the highest level of gun violence among developed nations, in large part due to our government’s failure to pass strict gun legislation. As of 2022, the United States has a gun homicide rate 26 times greater than that of peer nations, and the number of lives lost and communities shattered continues to rise. In a nation that is built around the ideals of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, the fear of being subjected to gun violence that millions of Americans live with is a stark contrast.

We cannot keep letting our government push off solving our gun epidemic. We need to stand together to advocate for federal red flag laws, the ban of assault weapons and overall stricter gun legislation so our neighbors and friends can stop being killed. It is way past the time for the U.S. to reclaim its reputation as a land of opportunity and hope, the American dream, rather than a nation plagued with gun violence as we stand back and let it happen. The path to a safer and more just country is clear, and together, we can pressure our leaders to walk it.