White House gun violence adviser arrives in Maine to offer support

Photographs of the mass shooting victims sit on the altar at Holy Family Church in Lewiston on Saturday. The church, part of the Prince of Peace Parish, was open Saturday for prayer and quiet reflection. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald

A White House gun violence expert arrived in Maine on Sunday night to support the Lewiston community in the wake of Wednesday’s mass shootings.

Greg Jackson, deputy director of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, arrived in Maine at the request of Gov. Janet Mills to support the community in the wake of the tragedy, said Dhara Nayyar, senior regional communications director at the White House. Jackson will work with the governor’s office and coordinate federal support for the community’s needs, she said.

“He is heading to Lewiston to help coordinate the federal government’s response on the ground. Whatever the community is advocating for, that’s what he’ll be there for,” Nayyar said Sunday. “This is exactly why this Office of Gun Violence Prevention was established because in the wake of tragedies, hopefully moving forward there’ll be less tragedy. This office was designed to help support communities during these tragic, tragic mass shootings.”

Jackson will be in Maine as long as the community needs support, she said.

The Lewiston mass shooting is the first such tragedy since President Biden established the Gun Violence Office last month.

Vice President Kamala Harris oversees the office and Stephanie Feldman, White House assistant to the president, serves as director. Jackson and Rob Wilcox, longtime advocates against gun violence, are the deputy directors.

When he announced the creation of the new office, Biden said that every time he’s met with families mourning lost loved ones killed by gun violence, “they all have the same message for their elected officials: ‘do something.’ ” As he unveiled the new office, Biden said he’ll continue to urge Congress to take common sense actions that the majority of Americans support, like banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and universal background checks.

In the absence of that needed action, Biden said, the office “will continue to do everything it can to combat the epidemic of gun violence that is tearing our families, our communities, and our country apart.”

On Thursday, Rep. Jared Golden, D-2nd District, announced at a Lewiston City Hall news conference that he is dropping his opposition to a ban on assault weapons, which he called “deadly weapons of war.”

“The time has now come for me to take responsibility for this failure, which is why I now call on the U.S. Congress to ban assault rifles, like the one used by the sick perpetrator of this mass killing in my hometown of Lewiston,” Golden said.