In 1949, one of my mom’s twin sisters killed herself with a handgun. She had been a nurse in World War II and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. The handgun was an heirloom from my great-grandfather, a Civil War captain from Bethel. Her twin sister couldn’t escape the resulting depression and shot herself in 1965 with a handgun from her husband’s collection. Her 9-year-old daughter discovered the body, and she still suffers from that trauma.
For my aunts’ deaths, a common denominator was easily available handguns in the home. Research has shown that having a handgun in your home increases the risk that a family member will commit suicide. For those at risk of impulsive suicide, domestic violence, spousal abuse or childhood games, a handgun is easy to use, quick and efficient. Suicides attempted with a firearm are lethal 82.5 percent of the time. Nationwide, in 2015 there were 21,334 gun suicides, almost all from handguns.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Question 3 — to require universal background checks on all gun sales and transfers — on the November ballot is a reasonable if small step toward limiting the rapidly expanding number of handguns in the home.
To their credit, gun store owners and the National Shooting Sports Foundation are initiating efforts to address sales to potentially suicidal buyers. The program will include education about suicide warning signs and emphasize locking guns away. However laudable, their efforts reach only those who buy the store where background checks are already required. What can be done about handguns that are sold to unstable buyers through the internet or Uncle Henry’s? These are the big loopholes in Maine’s background check system. Closing such loopholes, Question 3 would allow the store owners’ efforts to reach more gun buyers.
Today, I doubt that any of my extended family members are a potential have a suicide risk. Nor am I aware of extended family with a potential for spousal abuse, a major cause of handgun deaths in the home.
Even if our suicide risk is low, my family still is at risk from Maine’s background check loopholes because handguns are so easy to sell on the streets of Boston, New York, New Haven, Chicago or other cities with stronger gun laws. Most of us cross the Kittery Bridge to visit family, and we will never know which adjacent car carries a trunk full of handguns destined for a black market. Question 3 will reduce the risk of handguns coming from Maine.
To be sure, cars also can carry handguns to Boston from other states with weaker background check laws, such as New Hampshire and Vermont. So in the big picture, federal legislation is needed. And Republican Sen. Susan Collins has been a courageous leader in strengthening federal gun law enforcement.
She voted for the bipartisan Toomey-Manchin bill that would have strengthened federal background checks. She has sponsored bills to eliminate straw purchases (“parking lot sales”) and prevent people on terror watch lists from buying guns. She was recently appointed to a key appropriations subcommittee, with authority over annual budget bills that routinely underfund federal law enforcement agencies while restricting joint state-federal enforcement of existing gun laws. We can send a message of support for her efforts by approving Question 3.
Last November, my 92-year-old mom helped collect signatures to put Question 3 on the ballot. Our family, like so many others, has suffered the pain of handgun violence. As a grandfather, I will do everything in my power to reduce the risk that handguns will harm my family in the home or on the street. I applaud those responsible Maine gun owners who will vote yes on Question 3.
Peter Sly is an attorney in Brooklin. He gathered signatures for Question 3 last November.