I commend you on your Our View of Dec. 15 (“Our View: FRONTLINE documentary cuts to heart of Lewiston tragedy”). It is clear and to the point that among all the missteps surrounding Robert Card, our yellow flag law was a burden, not a public safety protection tool for law enforcement in Maine.

We have constantly heard and read complaints about our desire to target and punish law-abiding citizens with gun safety laws when they are not the problem. The fact is that law-abiding citizens are just that — until they are no longer.

Card’s criminal history was an OUI conviction in 2007, a Class D misdemeanor. That is not a felony that disqualified him from owning or possessing firearms in our state. Yet from all the warning signs before that horrific night, he was a man in trouble and danger. If a red flag law had been part of our criminal codes those 18 innocent people would be alive, and their loved ones and friends would not suffer from scars and life-changing damage done by Card.

Still, to this very moment, people pontificate that their right to bear arms is more important than the right to protect loved ones and friends from dangerous people. Red flag laws work. Our yellow flag law caused 18 families and countless friends to be forever anguished. You can try to blame others, but the fact is what failed is the politics around guns that cost innocent people their right to live.

I am in my 70s and grew up in a home where wild game was a necessary staple. At the same time, I have never felt, nor do I believe that I need a firearm for self-defense. I support the right to own firearms, but also believe responsible firearm owners should support a red flag law to improve public safety.

Mike Grove

Belgrade