NORWAY – Raising the legal age for purchasing a rifle or shotgun in Maine will not reduce the suicide rate. Neither will a waiting period.

That’s the feeling of Norway gun dealer Paul Brooks, owner of Woodman’s Sporting Goods.

While sympathizing with anyone who faces a suicide in his or her family, Brooks said one Lewiston woman’s efforts to make it more difficult for 18- to 21-year-olds to purchase a shotgun in Maine will not have the desired effect of preventing suicides.

The woman, Catherine Crowley, feels it is too easy for a young person contemplating suicide to go to a local store and quickly buy a gun. Last February, her 18-year-old son bought a shotgun at a local store and killed himself.

“It won’t make a difference. There are a lot of alternatives,” responded Brooks, saying a despondent 18-year-old unable to buy a gun could easily get behind the wheel of a car and kill himself or find some other means.

“If we could enforce the laws we have now, fine, but no new laws are going to solve the problem (of people killing themselves),” Brooks said.

“In situations like these, when people are trying to control a person’s activity, sometimes the first thing they do is try to control the tool used in the activity,” he said.

As to why a handgun purchaser must be 21 or older, while a long-gun buyer can be 18 or older, William Gomane of Maine’s Department of Public Safety said the issue is the gun’s potential for hurting others.

“There’s greater potential for a handgun to be used illegally and in a threatening manner,” said Gomane, noting that a handgun can be easily concealed under clothing or in a backpack.

Brooks noted that not only would a law change have no effect, but it also would hurt many legitimate gun buyers. “All the gun laws out there only serve to keep honest people honest,” he said.