“America and Maine have a gun violence problem because our nation is saturated with guns.  No motive will adequately explain an end to four lives in in Bowdoin.  No understanding of motive will mend the trauma of violence committed on Maine’s most crowded highway, violence that only a gun could deliver, stated Cumberland County DA Jacqueline A. Sartoris in a press release issued late this afternoon.

“Those who are mindful of America’s history, poor recent public policy and market-driven choices cannot be surprised by these events because they were entirely foreseeable.  We have become a nation aimed to cause harm and indelible trauma.  We have allowed those who cynically profit from the political power and financial gain of the gun industry to shape the American experience.  We have become a nation whose homeowners shot at the stranger at the door, felons who easly access fire arms, where children plan to harm classmates and have the means to do so, a nation with more guns than people.

“Maine people know this cannot continue.  Maine people support commonsense gun laws and policies that protect the public and the police; police who must enter into every encounter as if a gun is present.  This is madness and Maine people know it.”

The Sartoris statement continued:  “My thoughts are with the victms of yesterday’s gun violence.  Let us not stop at thoughts though, but also take action to prevent the future harm that access to guns will surely cause.”

At the outset of the press release issued this afternoon, the Cumberland County DA Sartoris stated that, after consulting with Attorney General Aaron Frey, prosecition of the events which occurred in our county will be handled entirely by AG Frey to ensure consistency and the most effective use of public resources.