Perhaps some of the folks who want you to vote against expanded background checks in Maine fear they won’t pass one next time they want to purchase a firearm. Why think this? Because they are stealing and vandalizing the Yes on 3 signs on our roads, though this probably isn’t a felony offense itself.

While we can go back and forth about signs, it’s harder to argue with the numbers: in states already requiring background checks for all gun sales, 46 percent fewer women are shot to death by intimate partners and 48 percent fewer law enforcement officers are killed by guns. The numbers also tell us that there are almost half the number of suicides carried out with guns.

The numbers tell us that background checks work.

The problem is that people can now buy guns anonymously here in Maine, with no background checks. They can use the internet, Uncle Henry’s, newspapers, etc. All they need to do is avoid licensed gun dealers.

Background checks are easily and inexpensively gotten at any licensed dealer and there are more of those than there are post offices in Maine.

Help us be safer. Vote yes on 3.

Priscilla J. Jenkins

Winthrop