The Republican proposal to revoke a 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases is a giant step backward for Maine. I’d like Rep. William “Billy Bob” Faulkingham, of Winter Harbor, to take walk in my shoes.

I am the father of a son who walked into a Rockland sporting goods store, suffering from severe depression, bought a handgun and — that same morning — shot himself in the heart. There was no waiting period in 2008, no background check, and the store clerk told me later that my son would’ve found another way to kill himself if he couldn’t buy the gun. I do not believe that is true.

Many studies show that waiting periods save lives. Guns make it all too easy to end our own life, or the life of another, in the heat of passion or depths of depression. Rep. Faulkingham can’t wait 72 hours to buy a gun? What’s his hurry? Faulkingham may soon be able to get his gun quicker. I will never get my son back.

Steve Cartwright
Tenants Harbor