Reply #53: Oh God no...

[Maine_Nurse]

"What is needed is a well thought out, well crafted national standard that applies to all jurisdictions"

This I disagree with strongly. What NYC or Chicago might think they need for firearms laws are certainly not applicable to my state (although I subscribe to the thought that the only people that comply with their inner-city laws are the ones that you'd want to allow to own firearms anyway). There are some issues that are best dealt with nationally such as the NICS check database, however as heavily armed as Maine is and as little restrictions as we have on firearms, we are near the bottom of the list on firearms crimes and deaths, as are NH and Vermont, two other "local" states with very permissive firearms laws and very high rates of ownership, yet low rates of crime. What fits us probably doesn't fit you and vice versa.

You're portion about "police protection" is also laughable in many areas. I live about 45 minutes from a police response in an emergency (also 30-45 minutes from an EMT response in an emergency). There IS not police protection to be had, only after the fact investigation.

It really does come down to enforcement of current laws, especially in the larger metropolitan areas. As an example, you have criminals that commit felonies, yet because your courts are so over-burdened the prosecutors offices make it a matter of practice to offer misdemeanor convictions in exchange for guilty pleas to speed things along and avoid prolonged prosecution. This results in many people who would otherwise then be prohibited from firearms ownership getting off the hook in that aspect. I understand why this is done, but it essentially short circuits existing firearms laws. Somehow this needs to be changed.