A couple of gun stories from up here in Maine.
A store worker at the L.L. Bean outlet store in Ellsworth Maine found a loaded handgun in the men’s restroom. Just sitting there, waiting to be picked up by anyone who happened to find it. Turns out it was left there by a 72 year old doctor from Winter Harbor Maine who said that he took the gun out of its holster to use the bathroom and simply forgot it.
More after the break.
Some background on Ellsworth crime statistics for 2010:
Ellsworth Maine Pop 7741
0 murders
1 rape
4 robberies
10 assaults
36 burglaries
219 thefts
4 auto thefts
0 arsons
And then there was Justin Dean, the 24 year old ex-Army Ranger who took a 3-1/2 hour stroll around the city of Portland on Christmas Eve. That in itself wasn’t so newsworthy. What was newsworthy was that he also happened to be carrying a fully loaded assault rifle with a high capacity magazine slung over his shoulder. The local police kept an eye on him, even spoke briefly with him, but he was not asked to identify himself or explain what he doing because he wasn’t breaking any laws.
He later approached the press on his own to explain his behavior.
“The chances of me ever committing a crime with this weapon are zero percent. No crimes are ever going to happen from my firearm,” he said.
Bill Nemitz, the columnist for the Portland Press Herald who interviewed Mr. Dean, summed it up perfectly: “If only he could guarantee no tragedies.”