Read and Weep (or laugh) New Gun law in Maine ( Archived) (9)

Actually possessing marijuana and a gun at the same time is a Federal charge for sure. We agree that because President Obama doesn't want to make waves the Dept of Justice has been postponing the enforcement of Federal laws in several states. However, on the other side of the coin I know for a fact papers in several states have been drawn up by DEA and ATF for mass arrests of marijuana vendors (and asset forfeiture) and submitted to DOJ (DOJ doesn't like street arrests by Federal agents and much prefers to review each case first before agreeing the case will be prosecuted, and most US Judges (who also work for DOJ) will usually throw out any case with an arrest report not initialed as approved by a Federal prosecutor.) and some requests for prosecution have been sitting without any response for over a year now. This inaction of course allowed things to snowball, so if a future President says go ahead on those prosecutions and raids in those states, a virtual civil war may result.

What I do not, in the least, like about the new Maine law is that it lacks what I think should have been a per-requisite. A training requirement. That all embarking on such a lifestyle both attended and passed an NRA gun safety class that includes a review of when a gun can legally come out of a holster to be used and when it can't, and of course a brief section on keeping the gun away from small children. Instead it became, if you are 21 years old, stick one in your pocket.

This is the situation that led an untrained, but licensed for concealed carry anyway woman in Detroit to last week pull out her pistol and blaze away in a public parking lot at someone accused of a shoplifting and also his get away car being driven by someone, who may have known nothing at all of the alleged offense and was merely fleeing the woman shooting at his car (and of course him too since he was in the car).

As someone who carries, I found that very uncool. Where did the bullets go? Yes, 1 of the 8 shots hit a tire of the getaway car which crashed elsewhere. The other 7? Who knows. Since no one has reported finding a corpse a 1/2 mile away yet, I guess she didn't hit any bystanders. What crime of violence did she witness? None. What is the dollar value of what he tried to steal (the difference is misdemeanor or felony value, in some states shooting a fleeing felon (of any kind) is still okay)? She didn't know. Did the alleged crime even happen? She didn't know. Whose life was in danger when she decided to pull a pistol from her purse and shoot at a running man? No ones life was in danger. The incident was on October 6, and on October 13th she was (finally) charged (and arraigned) with reckless endangerment by firearm, and faces a $500 fine. The suspects were apprehended last week. She is a 46 year old Hispanic, the suspects are black.

Training in when you can shoot, or not shoot, would have prevented the incident. I am hopeful Maine will amend the law to require evidence of training exists somewhere.

The US doesn't depend on tourism for it's economy. Sure some small towns do, but not most of the country. So if some people feel the lax attitude towards firearms means they can't come to the US, rest assured, no one here loses any sleep over that.