March 28, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Tragic death enforces sheriff’s support for waiting period for hand-gun purchase

BELFAST — Waldo County Sheriff John Ford said Tuesday that he favored a mandatory waiting period for hand-gun purchases.

Ford, a retired Maine game warden, acknowleged that his stance would probably get him in trouble with one of his more vocal constituent groups, the county’s sportsmen.

“I don’t care what they think,” Ford stated. “I feel very strongly that this three-day waiting period should be a law in this state. It’s just crazy not to have one.”

Ford said the need for such a law was brought home to him again this week by the suicide of a young Florida man in Northport. The 23-year old had been despondent over a drunken driving arrest the day before and was able to purchase a 9 mm Baretta “with his parents’ credit card” just hours after being released from jail on the OUI charge.

The man took his own life five hours later.

“He wanted to get a job in law enforcement and knew the OUI charge would prevent that. Two hours after he bailed out of jail he got his Maine license. Five hours after that he shot himself on his grandmother’s lawn.”

Ford said he spent much of Tuesday afternoon with the man’s parents trying to explain how easy it is to purchase a handgun in Maine. He said that a three-day law “might have bought him some time. He might have stopped and thought about it….We made it too easy for him.”

Ford pledged to begin working to change the law.


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