Media Disinformation About The Maine Shooting And Maine Firearms Laws

Well, it looks like the narrative has switched back to the second crime scene being at a bar rather than a restaurant as all the media outlets were reporting yesterday. I guess it is hard to hide that fact for long when the place is called Schemengees Bar and Grill. Later in the article, it does switch back to referring to the place as a "restaurant". This may seem pedantic on my part, but it is important because Maine makes it illegal to carry a firearm inside a place that serves alcohol, and the media is covering this up. 

    Speaking of media disinformation, the Insider takes the low road by ignoring all the laws that did apply to the shooter in its article, "Maine's gun control laws explained: No permits required to carry firearms and roughly half of all households have a gun." The article faults Maine in three primary areas:

• That Maine "doesn't require a permit to carry firearms and allows both open carry and concealed carry";
• That Maine "also doesn't require background checks on gun sales"; and,
• That Maine "doesn't ban high-capacity magazines."

Not mentioned is that Maine doesn't allow the carrying of a firearm in an establishment that serves alcohol which definitely covers the bar that was the second crime scene and, if it is like most bowling alleys I've been to, also covers the bowling alley that was the first crime scene. I also don't see how the magazine capacity would have made a difference: it certainly didn't make any difference in the Parkland shooting.

    Also not mentioned is that the shooter was not permitted to possess a firearm under federal law due to his commitment to a mental hospital.

    And, of course, the article ignores the fact that whether Maine required a background check is irrelevant because it is already required under federal law.

    The article also laments that "[s]everal measures trying to tighten gun control laws in the state have failed in recent years, including proposals to require background checks for gun sales, ban bump stocks, and mandate a 72-hour waiting period to buy a gun," although without explaining how any of these would have made a difference in this case.