guns

A bill to allow Maine forest rangers to carry guns has stalled and may be carried over for consideration next year. Nearly 20 forest rangers testified in favor of the bill last month.

I love Stephen King. Not so much for his writings (I will address my issues on his books later in this note), but for who he is. He is a man of great personal success and a man who has shown he still has a heart, is grounded, compassionate and gees, kinda reasonable.  Today I apply those descriptions of Mr. King on the issue of gun control.

Bear arms, not armed bears.  Sorry, had to go there. A Sabattus man feels there ought to be a law which mandates every Sabattus head of household to own a gun. This is not the first time this idea has been floated. A town outside of Atlanta, Georgia did this years ago and it apparently worked!

Banning high capacity magazines in handguns and rifles. To many, it probably sounds like a practical idea but does it pass the "real world" test? You be the judge. Watch the entire video then decide.

Like the alliteration in my headline? I sure did! And those words sum up my wicked good day. Mike Gagne, my good friend and gun guru, and I headed north to Holden this morning to the Maine Military Supply Store to look around at "stuff," like guns and targets and the like.

Gov. Paul LePage has signed off on the emergency legislation to temporarily keep confidential the names of Mainers with a permit to carry concealed guns. The lawmakers moved quickly to pass the emergency legislation and the governor signed it right away.

A proposed bill would allow teachers and other school employees to carry concealed firearms in school. As you might guess, the bill raised questions among legislative leaders. First of all it would not be mandatory.

There's no need to offer a "Don't try this at home" warning — by the time you've watched this guy accidentally shock, burn, and shoot himself, you're unlikely to follow in his footsteps.

Mike (my gun guru who knows weapons like no one else I know) and I drove into the Augusta Civic Center parking lot and, on the way up the access road, he said, "all these cars can't be for the gun show, can they?"

This would have been very interesting to attend. It was an informational meeting with law enforcement and lawmakers on gun violence. The take away message for those who attended was that in order find the solutions, we need to dig deeper into the mental health issues not just the kinds of weapons used.

Wednesday afternoon, President Obama proposed numerous measures in response to a string of recent mass shootings across the country, including one at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in which 20 children and six adults were murdered by a gunman.

I took a firearm's safety course from Chuck Cabanniss in Vassalboro, a former cop who really knows his stuff and got my concealed carry permit. I've learned a lot from long time policeman and good friend Mike Gagne about how to shoot. It was Mike who showed me this video.

Gary Hammond, the co-owner of Hammond Tractor in Fairfield, who is a gun owner and hunter, offered people the opportunity to bring in guns they wanted destroyed in the wake of the Newtown Connecticut shooting. He said he would use tools at the business to dismantle the guns. Criticism has caused him to change his mind.

After the recent mass shooting in Connecticut, there is now a way to destroy your guns if that is what you choose to do with them. I was reading in the KJ that Hammond Tractor in Fairfield has found a way to reduce the number of guns in the community. They will tear apart handguns,free of charge for anyone who wants their gun destroyed.

Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, read a statement Friday morning in reaction to last week's shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. He called for installing armed guards in schools to prevent future gun violence against students.

Guns and cars have long been among the leading causes of non-medical deaths in the United States.  By 2015, firearm deaths will probably exceed traffic fatalities for the first time. While motor-vehicle deaths dropped 22% from 2005 to 2010, gun fatalities are rising again after a low point in 2000.