Maine’s gun laws are even lax at the US level.
In the state of Maine, in the northeastern part of the United States, there was a mass shooting on Wednesday night. In total, 18 people have been killed in the shootings so far and 13 more have been injured.
A 40-year-old reservist of the armed forces is suspected of the act Robert Cardinia.
The largest manhunt is underway in the state to find Card. He served as a firearms instructor in the army. He has suffered from mental health problems and was treated in a nursing home for two weeks in the summer. Among other things, he had threatened to start shooting at the National Guard base in Saco.
Cardi is suspected of first breaking into a local bowling alley in the city of Lewiston, where he shot several people. About an hour later, he is suspected of continuing to shoot at a grill restaurant.
Card is on the run. The police warn residents to stay indoors. Many schools were closed on Thursday.
A massive search operation is underway. Hundreds of police officers have been called to the scene.
Politicians in the United States have taken a stand on the event.
– This is a dark day for Maine, stated the governor of the state Janet Mills.
of the new Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Mike Johnson’s in my opinion, the most appropriate reaction of the House of Representatives to the event is to pray.
President Joe Biden urged residents to follow the instructions of the authorities. He also recalled the problem of gun violence in the United States.
“A shooting like this opens deep and painful wounds in the minds of countless Americans who have survived and been traumatized by gun violence,” he said.
Maine’s gun laws are lax even at the US level. The state does not require any kind of permit to buy or carry a gun. There are also no “warning signs” in use in the state, the detection of which would give the authorities the right to disarm a person deemed dangerous.
It is one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history.
According to the US Gun Violence Archive, shootings that claimed more than four victims have increased in the country since the corona year 2020. In 2022, there were 647 such shootings.
Sources: Reuters, AP