Biden says Americans should be able to go bowling without fear of being shot and calls for ‘common sense’ gun laws as he and Jill visit Lewiston, Maine, nine days after a gunman shot and killed 18 people.

President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden visited Lewiston, Maine, on Friday to meet with relatives of the victims and first responders, nine days after a gunman killed 18 people at a bar and bowling alley.

Upon arriving in Maine, the president and first lady made an unscheduled stop at Schemengees Bar and Grille, one of two places where 40-year-old Robert Card attacked his victims.

They placed a bouquet of flowers at the makeshift memorial to Schemengees and then met with first responders at the bowling alley before Biden gave a short speech.

With a ‘Lewiston Strong!’ behind him, he again pushed for additional gun control measures.

“This is about common sense and reasonable, responsible action to protect our children, our families and our communities,” Biden said. “Because regardless of our politics, this is about protecting our freedom to go to a bowling alley, a restaurant, a school, a church without being shot.”

The Lewiston shooting was the nation’s 36th mass shooting of 2023. This is evident from data from The Associated Press and USA Today, with Biden demonstrating his frustration by naming several others who have occurred during his time in office.

“Too many Americans have lost loved ones or survived the trauma of gun violence,” he noted.

“I know because Jill and I met them in Buffalo and Uvalde and Monterey Park and Sandy Hook, anyway, too many to count, too many to count. From places that never make the news, from all over America,” Biden said.

The horrific shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School happened while Biden was vice president.

After Biden delivered his remarks for Just-In-Time Recreation, he and the first lady met behind closed doors with the victims’ relatives.

One of the victims was a 14-year-old bowler, while the local deaf community was in mourning because another was a sign language interpreter.

The president and first lady were hosting Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his partner Jodie Haydon at a state dinner at the White House on October 25 when news broke of the horrific shooting in Maine.

Biden stepped out of the glitzy dinner to be briefed on the mass shooting and manhunt and spoke by phone later that evening with Maine Gov. Janet Mills, Sens. Angus King and Susan Collins and Rep. Jared Golden.

Card was found dead two days after the shooting.

There is enormous frustration surrounding the Maine shooting because there were plenty of warnings that Card could break.

During military training in New York, he said people accused him of being a pedophile.

He pushed a reservist and locked himself in his motel room, after which commanders took him to the base hospital.

From there he was taken to a private mental health facility, where he was hospitalized for fourteen days.

His military weapons were taken away.

Maine officials say they were unaware of warnings from officials in New York. And it is unclear whether any attempt was made to invoke New York’s red flag law while he was in the state.

Maine has a “yellow flag” law on the books, which requires more hurdles than New York’s red flag law.

Army spokesperson Lt. Col. Ruth Castro said she could not tell The Associated Press whether Card was committed to a psychiatric facility of his own volition or involuntarily due to a federal health privacy law.

She said the same law prevented her from saying what Card’s diagnosis was after he was evaluated.

She denied requests to answer other questions about what the military did or did not do to notify others of Card’s condition, citing ongoing law enforcement investigations.

Back in Maine, reservists continued to express concerns about Card after he returned in early August.

Family members told a deputy that his mental health’s decline had begun in January, and his ex-wife and son had alerted police in Maine that Card was angry and paranoid, as well as heavily armed with 10-15 guns he took from his home had achieved. brother’s house.

People can be legally barred from owning guns for a variety of reasons, including misdemeanor convictions and domestic violence protection orders.

But whatever the reason, getting rid of guns someone already has is often complicated, said Anderman, senior counsel at the Gun Violence Law Center.

“Most states do not have adequate waiver provisions if people are banned,” she said.

A commitment to a mental health facility also prohibits people from owning guns under federal law, but that measure does not provide a mechanism to take away guns a person already has.

And although Card was treated at a facility, the FBI says there was nothing entered in the federal background check that would have prevented him from purchasing guns.

In a text message early September 15, one of Card’s fellow reservists urged a superior to change the gate passcode and have a gun when Card arrived at the Army Reserve drill center in Saco.

The reservist said Card refused to get help for his mental illness “and yes, he still has all his guns.”

“I believe he is going to commit a mass shooting,” the reservist wrote.

That was the same day a deputy went to Card’s home in Bowdoin, but no one was home. The deputy returned the next day and heard noises inside, but Card did not answer the door.

The deputy called for backup, but they eventually left.

The sheriff said his deputies did not have the legal authority to break down the door and take Card, and there is no indication the deputy ever spoke to him — the first step toward triggering the yellow card law.

The sheriff’s office canceled its statewide alert a week before the Lewiston shooting for help locating Card, whom they described as “armed and dangerous.”