Article and photos by Anderson Calderon
On March 24, when many students nationwide walked out of their classes to demand stricter gun-control laws following the mass school shooting in Parkland, Fla., protests were staged across Maine as well.
But the walkout in Maine, where gun ownership is a fiercely protected right based on a deep-rooted tradition of hunting, was controversial.
“If you went into a house around here and there was not a gun in it, that would be kind of weird,” said Jacob Buck, 23, a mechanical engineer from Brewer.
At the Region III technical high school in Lincoln, students decided not to participate in the March 24 protest. “I don’t feel like there’s any reason to get rid of guns,” says Ben Turcotte, 17, a Region III student, echoing the sentiments of many classmates. Turcotte, who owns a .22-caliber rifle, explained that hunting is so popular in Maine that the students are all raised with a sense of pride in hunting and gun ownership and are exposed to firearms from a young age.
Many school districts and superintendents across Maine also issued warnings discouraging students from participating in the nationwide protest, saying, “you’re going to pay the price if you strike,” said Ann Luther, a longtime member of the League of Women Voters of Maine and an expert in Maine politics.
Luther said mixed reactions to the March protest reflected the ambivalence many Mainers feel about efforts to tighten gun-ownership laws. “It’s a symbolic issue,“ Luther said in an interview in early April. “It’s like, ‘You don’t like my kind of people because you’re anti-gun.’”
In Maine’s 2nd Congressional District, during the coming midterm elections, voters will choose whether to re-elect the Republican incumbent, Bruce Poliquin, a staunch supporter of the National Rifle Association, or one of his Democratic opponents—three Democrats are vying for the primaries, which will be held in June. Gun control is expected to be a widely contested issue with Mainers from both parties agreeing that their right to own firearms must be protected.
Graphics: Gun Ownership per Capita
Graphics source: NORC at the University of Chicago, 2014 study
The Democratic candidates are treading carefully around the gun control debate. At a public forum at the University of Maine in Farmington in April, all four Democratic candidates—one has since dropped out–said they would not accept donations from the NRA. But they they advocate for major gun-control legislation.
“Most Democrats that I know respect the 2nd Amendment,” said Lucas St. Clair, one of the Democratic candidates for Congress. An environmentalist and heir to the Burt’s Bees personal-care products empire who cultivates his image as both a gun owner and avid hunter, St. Clair said he hoped to find common ground between gun owners and those in favor of tighter gun control laws.
In 2016, Maine held a statewide referendum known as Question 3, in which tighter background checks for gun sales were proposed. The Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine financed a campaign against ballot initiative, raising $150,000 in the process. It was defeated, with 52 percent of voters in opposition.
According to the NORC research institution at the University of Chicago, Maine has among the highest rates of gun ownership in New England. Only Vermonters own more guns in the region.
The popularity of guns in Maine was evident during a recent visit to Marden’s hardware store in Waterville. The store had a section devoted to firearms, ranging from handguns to assault rifles. Many gun enthusiasts tried out the rifles, firmly gripping a gun and aiming it. While the Marden’s store was vast, selling everything from housewares to fabrics, its gun section was by far the busiest.
