Attorney Stephen Smith recently wrote for this paper that “Maine gun owners should be paranoid” about the broadly popular referendum that would close the gun show loophole by requiring background checks for all gun sales.
Smith has sponsored some pretty bizarre forms of advertising for his law practice in the past — a life-size photo of himself peering out his office window, for example. But predicting paranoia as a consequence of better enforcement of current law sets a new standard for truly weird advertising.
The data are very clear: States with better background check laws have less gun violence, which is pretty much what one would expect. Better drunken driving laws result in less drunken driving. No laws are 100 percent effective, but they are broadly effective and save lives. This is not rocket science.
By and large, Maine gun owners are responsible, and Mainers can be proud of our low crime rate. Closing the gun show loophole will ensure that Maine guns remain in responsible hands. Extending background checks to private sales will not change anyone’s right to buy, sell or own a gun. It simply will enforce existing law that denies guns to felons, domestic abusers and people with severe mental illnesses.
When background checks by gun dealers were first required more than 20 years ago, there were few gun shows. But they have become popular because they allow gun sales with no background checks. In addition, Uncle Henry’s regularly advertises pages of guns for sale with no background check.
Today in Maine, drug dealers, felons released from prison yesterday, domestic abusers — anyone can buy as many AK-47s as they wish because of the loophole. No background checks, no written records, no ability to trace a gun later used in a crime, not even a determination whether the seller is a criminal.
Tell me, who should be paranoid? The gun seller who has to wait for the background check, who has to pay a processing fee, who has to make certain he is not selling a gun to a criminal, who has to identify himself, who has to use the same background check system that L.L. Bean, Cabela’s, Kittery Trading Post and every other gun dealer has used for 20 years?
Better background checks and better gun laws in general are not being foisted on Maine by anyone. They have been broadly supported by 80 percent of Americans for years. But there is no question they are opposed by powerful interests from outside Maine, primarily the gun lobby that is boosting profits by creating fear — and, yes, “paranoia” — that drives ever more gun sales.
Background checks should not make anyone paranoid. Instead, extending background checks to all gun sales is an opportunity for Maine voters to make a simple, common-sense and inexpensive improvement to Maine gun laws that will save lives, continue Maine’s traditions of responsible gun ownership and use and discourage criminals and drug dealers from coming to Maine to buy their guns.
Tom Franklin is president of the Maine Gun Safety Coalition, formerly the Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence.