Uvalde, Texas, is over 2,000 miles away from Waterville, Maine, but the reality of gun violence confronts all Americans.

This year, to date, more American children have been killed in school shootings than on-duty law enforcement officers killed by gunfire. The attack at Robb Elementary School was the 137^th school shooting incident to take place in the U.S. this year. Last year was the worst year on record.

Since 2020, guns have been the leading cause of death for U.S. children and teens, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.

Guns are the third-leading cause of death for Maine children ages 1-17, with more injured. In 2020, a 7-year-old girl in Waterville survived a drive-by shooting when a teenage gunman fired into her home, striking her as she ate an after-school snack. She carries the bullet in her back to this day. The shooter pled guilty and is serving an eight-year-prison sentence. Drive-by shootings used to be unheard of in central Maine. A few weeks ago, a couple were shot in their legs when driving on Kennedy Memorial Drive after a late night altercation downtown.

But most gun deaths aren’t drive-by or school shootings — more than 88% of gun deaths in Maine are suicides, and over half of all suicide deaths in Maine involve firearms. Over 1,000 Maine people have died from gun-related suicide since 2008.

Domestic violence, an ongoing scourge in Maine and the U.S., is far more likely to end in death when guns are wielded. Over half of Maine’s 18 intimate partner homicides in 2018-19 involved a gun, with five children among the dead. As reported in 2021, nearly half of all the homicides in Maine were acts of domestic violence.

Maine is a gun-trafficking mecca. Guns purchased in Maine are trafficked to states with stronger gun laws, where they end up in the hands of people unable to pass a background check. From 2013 to 2017, 1,416 guns originally purchased in Maine were recovered after being used in crime in other states, according to the Giffords Law Center.

We Mainers and our legislators have blood on our hands for failing to institute common-sense gun safety regulations adopted in other states, primarily in two areas: universal background checks and extreme risk protective orders, otherwise known as “red flag” laws.

Universal background checks would reduce the number of Maine firearms sold for crimes committed both in- and out-of-state, including Canada. Extreme risk protective orders (ERPOs) would reduce the number of suicides in Maine and serve to prevent violent males from killing or injuring children, other family members, or members of the public.

The Uvalde gunman shot his own grandmother in the face before killing 19 elementary school children and two teachers. His own sister “flatly refused” to purchase guns for him a year ago. His grandmother survived but may never talk again. Family members know the dangers of extreme risk individuals first-hand and early-on.

Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine seeks to introduce Maine’s 2019 “yellow flag” law at the national level, which is, as its name reflects, a watered-down version of a red flag law. Maine’s law allows law enforcement to petition the court to seize guns or other weapons, but only if a medical professional determines that a person with a mental health condition poses a significant threat to themselves or others.

It is oddly unwieldy and bureaucratic when time is of the essence, and it doesn’t trust family members to directly seek a protective order barring access to firearms  when lives are at stake.

A stronger, bipartisan red flag bill was re-introduced last year at the federal level by Maine Sen. Angus King, an independent, and others but again did not advance. The bill encourages states to enact laws that provide family members or law enforcement the option to obtain a court order.

Both of Maine’s senators are on the bipartisan coalition in the U.S. Senate negotiating long overdue gun safety legislation at the federal level. The draft bipartisan agreement provides grants for states to implement red flag laws. Maine’s yellow-flag law is not as strong as the red-flag laws passed by 19 other states. It’s unclear how proposed legislation will impact Maine’s existing yellow flag law.

Maine can help the nation, neighboring states, and our communities by empowering family members to invoke extreme risk protective orders (red flags) to prevent suicides or gun violence toward others and by ceasing to be an easy mark for gun traffickers who supply guns to criminals.

Jennifer W. Kierstead is a writer who lives in Waterville.

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