LEWISTON, ME — Everytown for Gun Safety and its grassroots networks, Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action, released the following statements in response to the multiple mass shootings reported in Lewiston, Maine. According to early reports, at least 16 people were shot and killed and over two dozen were wounded in two separate shootings, making it the deadliest mass shooting of 2023. Currently, the shooter remains at large and communities across Maine are sheltering in place and schools have closed.
“Our hearts are broken for the community and the loved ones of those impacted in this senseless tragedy,” said Kathleen McFadden, a volunteer and co-chapter leader with the Maine chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Bowling night, dinner with friends, supermarket trips, and school drop-offs should be safe places free from gun violence. We won’t sit idly by as this crisis tears our communities apart and will continue to demand action every single day until we are safe from gun violence once and for all.”
“Another American community is grappling with what should be the unthinkable,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “The people of Lewiston and all who love them can count on the full support of the gun safety movement in the difficult days, months, and years to come.”
“Yet again, families and communities are devastated by a senseless act of gun violence. This is not an inevitability,” said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of Moms Demand Action. “If access to guns made us safer, America would be the safest country in the world. Instead, we live in a place where you may get shot and killed by a weapon of war while simply living your life. We refuse to accept this as our reality.”
In an average year, 163 people die by guns in Maine. With a rate of 11.2 deaths per 100,000 people, Maine has the 39th-highest rate of gun deaths in the US. Statistics about gun violence in Maine are available here, and Everytown’s Gun Law Rankings – which shows how Maine gun laws compared to those of other states – is available here.
