My son, Mark Horner, like me was born and grew up in Bar Harbor. Unlike me, he was a brilliant musician. While I loved biology and pursued a career in surgery, his dream was to study with the best trombonist in the country. And he did. He went to the Juilliard School in New York City, played with the New York Philharmonic the night he graduated and became the principal trombone in the San Antonio Symphony. Mark was a big, good looking guy who had many friends. On the evening of Dec. 14, 1998, a man with a handgun came to his front door and killed him with six shots to the chest and abdomen.
It took me years to deal with the loss and grief, and I chose not to get involved with the politics of gun violence for a long time. And then along came Question 3 on the November ballot. It appeared that at last there was something a person like me could do that might make a difference.
Question 3 is not about the Second Amendment, which I support. It is not about confiscation or control or the rantings of the “liberal elite.” I hunted a lot when I was young — got my first deer when I was 15 and I still have the .300 Savage that did the job.
This is about protecting the public from harm by dealing with a public health issue on which physicians should be taking a lead as we always have done with major health issues.
Maine saw 132 firearm-related deaths in 2014, at a rate of 9.3 people per 100,000 people, slightly below the national rate of 10.3, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Although homicides numbered 23, less than half of the national average, Maine’s rate of firearm-related suicides was troublingly higher than the national average.
Nearly two-thirds of gun deaths are suicides. That means in 2014 Maine had about 87 gun-related suicides, with a rate of 15.7 per 100,000 — higher than the national rate of 13. Because Maine’s overall suicide rate is significantly higher than average, there could be more. The remainder of these deaths likely were the result of accidents involving children and young adults. These 132 deaths didn’t have to happen.
Currently, it is too easy for someone who is prohibited under federal and state law from having a firearm — felons, domestic abusers and the mentally ill, among others — to obtain one. Even though the vast majority of Maine gun owners are law-abiding hunters, collectors and shooting competition enthusiasts, we do have a problem. It is simply too easy to circumvent our current background check system, which applies only to licensed dealers. Private, unlicensed sellers can arrange gun sales at gun shows, through published advertisements, online or in other settings.
Through the magazine Uncle Henry’s and the website Armslist.com, there are at least 3,000 guns for sale a year for which no background check would be required, according to a recent analysis by Everytown for Gun Safety. It’s impossible to know for certain how many sales occur without a background check, but for as much as 40 percent of gun sales there are no background checks.
It’s not just the so-called “liberal elite” who support expanding Maine’s background check system. In a Portland Press Herald/University of New Hampshire poll released last month, 61 percent of likely voters statewide said they supported passing Question 3, while 33 percent said they opposed the measure. In Maine, the problem isn’t hunting rifles or shotguns. It is handguns that, while legitimate for self-defense, can easily be involved in domestic violence, suicide, accidental discharge in the home, or — as in my son’s case — murder. Handguns are what the bad guys are looking for and buying. It’s worthwhile to try to get a handle on this problem.
Closing the background check loophole will not solve every problem, of course, but a strong “yes” vote here in Maine will continue our proud tradition of leading our country on issues of public health. We did it with clean air and clean water. We can do it with a sensible Maine measure to protect more lives from a senseless death at the barrel of a gun.
Bill Horner practiced medicine in Bangor at Northeast Surgery from 1989 until 2009 as general surgeon, trauma and critical care surgeon, and as breast cancer specialist. He lives in Bar Harbor.