Maine AAP Statement in Response to Lewiston Incidents
Posted on October 26, 2023
On October 25, 2023, our Maine Community changed forever. We grieve this morning for each of the lives lost in Lewiston. Our hearts pour out to our medical and law enforcement colleagues whose professional duty to serve, protect and heal put them on the front lines of danger and horror. We sit sheltered in place– schools, work and life– familiarly at a standstill waiting for something to make us safe again.
Gun violence is a plague and mass shootings are the American variant. Yet, we collectively refuse to approach and fix this distinctly American problem with any of the common sense tools and policies we have at our fingertips to employ.
Lewiston is now listed among the other 501 communities that have endured the horror of mass shootings. Isolated, one-off events–these are not. Gun violence is a scourge that we are watching spread more and more rapidly.
Shock and horror must be replaced with proven prevention policies. Talk must be replaced with action. We are not helpless– we demand to move past complacency.
And our children are watching. Wondering. Learning about what we value.
The pediatric provider community will treat and heal those physically and mentally wounded by this event and we will support and grieve collectively with our colleagues. But we will not stop at this, because we are your pediatricians.
Maine’s pediatricians will work tirelessly to protect our children and adolescents through prevention of mass shootings and gun violence. We invite every concerned citizen, parent and grandparent of Maine to join us and our professional organizations to demand gun violence prevention policies. Complacency will not occur when, especially when our children are watching us. Dirigo.