Yet another mass shooting occurred on Oct. 25, this time in Lewiston, Maine, that killed 18 people and wounded 13 others. As of Oct. 26, that makes an astounding 35,275 people that have been killed by gun violence in this country just in 2023.
Maine Sen. Angus King told the Portland Press Herald that the gunman was likely able to kill so many people because he had high-capacity magazines on his Rugar SFAR AR-10-style rifle that he was able to quickly reload by duct-taping two magazines together: “’Two people charged the shooter in Lewiston, but he killed them both because he didn’t have to stop and reload,’ King said, referring to two men who died after charging Robert Card at one of the shooting sites, the Just-in-Time bowling alley.”
The advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety said that by taping two 20-round magazines together, the shooter was “able to bolster his capacity to that of 40 rounds.”
Last Thursday, King, an independent who caucuses with Senate Democrats, and Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico introduced the Gas-Operated Semi-Automatic Firearms Exclusion Act, which they said was “aimed at protecting communities from gun violence while safeguarding law-abiding Americans constitutional rights to own a firearm for legitimate self-defense, hunting and sporting purposes.”
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