BRUNSWICK

In the wake of a shooting that claimed the lives of 17 people at a Florida high school, debate has intensified as to how best to prevent these tragedies from occurring.

The perpetrator of the Feb. 14 attack at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, used an AR-15, leading student survivors — and many others — to call for a ban on assault-style rifles. Others avoid the ban solution, opting to call for greater security and arming teachers.

In Augusta, a state legislative panel reportedly failed Tuesday to make much headway on bills aimed at making schools safer, either through gun control measures or arming school staff. Gov. Paul LePage, meanwhile, told Fox News he thinks more should be done to prevent the mentally ill from accessing firearms, while also supporting arming school staff on a voluntary basis.

On Thursday, a rally is planned at the State House to protest a bill opponents say will overturn a prohibition on allowing guns in school parking lots.

Meanwhile, in the Midcoast, law enforcement officials steered clear of weighing in on gun control and focused on the importance of training and planning.

“In our line of work, we enforce the policies, we do not write them,” said Topsham Police Chief Chris Lewis. “We can influence the policies but we do not put pen to paper.”

But are police often focused on responding to gun violence events after the fact and not spending enough time on the root cause to prevent them?

“I will agree with that,” said Sagada- hoc County Sheriff Joel Merry. “There is something to be said about addressing the issues surrounding mental health, particularly with our youth.

“It’s too bad it’s taken tragedies for us to get to that point,” he added, “but I think we’ve got to have more dialogue with that, particularly with policy makers and funding sources.”

There is a role for law enforcement in that process, he believes.

Asked about gun control measures, Merry said he was a proponent of a citizen initiated referendum question in 2016, the failed Question 3, to address a loophole in the background check law.

“I still have concerns that people that are restricted persons are still able to get weapons via online advertising,” he said, “whether through social media or Uncle Henry’s or something like that, where there’s no opportunity for a background check to be done.”

It has also proven difficult at times to get relevant data on whether a person has been committed for psychiatric reasons that might prohibit them from legally purchasing or possessing a firearm.

“We need to make sure we are capturing all of that information,” Merry said.

He would like to see conversations about raising the age limit for purchasing a gun, or assault-style rifles, and called for proponents and opponents to be open-minded.

“Maybe you can find some areas of compromise,” he said, “and do something that still respects the rights and the needs of each side.”

Merry also talked about meeting with schools and businesses to have those “forbidden conversations” about how they would respond in the event of an active shooter scenario.

As one of two school resource officers in the Brunswick school system, Brunswick Police Detective Tom Stanton said he’s able to build positive relationships with students. While he’s in the school for the safety and security of the building, he’s also working as an informal counselor, mentor and teacher. He has also worked with the school system to revamp its crisis plan, after concluding that the previous lockdown procedures were inadequate.

“After being a school resource officer for a few years and watching the standard lockdown (training), I felt it wasn’t enough,” Stanton said.

Instead of a one-size-fits-all plan like the standard lockdown, Brunswick has implemented the ALICE active shooter response training for civilians. An acronym for Alert, Lockdown, Inform, Counter, Evacuate, ALICE doesn’t teach anyone how to fight, Stanton said, but rather it teaches people how to safeguard themselves depending on the situation.

Sagadahoc County continues to run active shooter training every two years, and is also looking at implementing ALICE in School Administrative District 75, according to Lewis.

dmoore@timesrecord.com