Three executives of firearm-related organizations in Maine took aim at the 72-hour waiting period for gun purchases in an op-ed published in the Sunday Telegram on Jan. 26 (“Firearm rights are under continued assault in Maine“). “No longer can a woman in desperate need of self-defense from an abuser purchase a firearm to protect her family in her time of need,” they wrote.

They express no concern about that same abuser, who can buy firearms the same day he speeds home to kill that woman. If she has the gun ready at all times to shoot him at the moment he attacks her, she might get away with it in court, but maybe not. And meanwhile, that loaded gun is itself a danger to others, such as her children. Now, if she takes the opportunity to kill her abuser when he is asleep on the couch, she could be charged with murder.

In the same letters section, we heard from a man in Tenants Harbor whose severely depressed son shot himself dead the same day he bought a firearm. He might have sought help if the waiting period had been in effect.

Using women to rationalize gun rights and oppose reasonable restrictions is twisted, even sinister. In the same paper, although writing on a different subject, Victoria Hugo-Vidal wrote, “Politicians keep using the concept of our (women’s) safety and protection as a bludgeon against minorities while actively ignoring actual dangers.” The same can be said of those who oppose efforts for the safer use of firearms.

Victoria Adams
Kennebunk