We are exasperated. We are worried. Our throats are raw and our eyes puffy. Our arms ache from holding our children tightly, or from yearning to. Together, we have broken open a limitless capacity for mourning with our communities. And now we mourn with our hometown. Lewiston, Maine.

Together, we have churned through the stages of grief. The ultimate and deep sadness when sweet children are shot in their classrooms. Denial that 18 of our neighbors could be murdered in a bowling alley, or a bar, just up the road. Bargaining with ourselves and any, every, higher power to swap out the details of what happened for a falsely diminished tragedy — maybe that fewer died or maybe that no children were hurt, maybe that others were saved in the selfless final acts of heroes who we knew and loved.

The persistent anger that we are here again. No — not again, that we are still. Here. Through thousands of murders in “Everytown, USA” and that we cannot leave because…because… Well, why can’t we? Because we lack leadership, we lack momentum, because we make excuses, and because we accept excuses.

And here is the stage of grief in which we must never dwell: Acceptance.

We must stay in the sadness and the anger. We must draw strength from the power they give us until the threat of dying by senseless massacre is eliminated. Eliminated as brutally and without concern for others as each of the 19,000 Americans who have died in mass shootings since 2015. We must refuse the excuses that we are offered by our legislators and demand a complete ban on assault weapons.

Immediately.

Since the solution is clear, the excuses should be clear as well. They say that “yellow flag laws are a win,” or that they didn’t support the bill on a technicality. That they “failed” and are open to listening. These are not plans for action. These are passive and privileged words to ameliorate a grave failure to support a federal ban on assault weapons when it could have saved our neighbors.

These excuses waste our time, distracting and placating us until our rage subsides.

Of course, the most persistent excuse we hear is that banning assault rifles threatens our Second Amendment rights. That such a ban would make it easier to come for our handguns and hunting rifles. This excuse is insulting to us.

Mainers have a long tradition of hunting and of responsible gun ownership. We honor that tradition and we know that we do not need assault weapons to hunt. Suggesting that we cannot hold both truths together is an insult to our intelligence. We must demand legislators who are capable of nuance. We are capable of nuance.

Rest assured by history that it will never be easy to take away guns. As it should not ever be easy to infringe on our constitutional rights. But the Second Amendment is not what is vulnerable here. We are vulnerable here. Our children are vulnerable.

We deserve relentless action in our name until assault weapons are no longer legal in this country. We deserve it. Our children deserve it. It is not complicated, it is necessary. Do not rest. Do not accept.

Elizabeth Sandefer, Turner

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