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Poll results

Gun control doesn't usually make headlines in Mainebiz, but the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, have galvanized attention nationwide around the issue.

The two shootings, on Aug. 3-4, left 32 people dead and 51 injured. That brings the number of number of Americans killed in mass shootings so far this year to nearly 300, with over 1,000 injured.

Although fortunate to escape the kind of tragedy experienced in Texas and Ohio earlier this month, Maine is not immune to gun violence. And its prevention sometimes involves the Maine business community.

Some Maine companies post warnings that offices are gun-free zones. Employees at downtown Portland businesses have engaged in active-shooter training. Last year, Freeport-based retailer L.L. Bean Inc., which has served recreational hunters since its founding in 1912, banned gun sales to anyone under age 21.

But guns are also responsible for Maine jobs. In addition to hunting merchants like Bean, the state is home to at least two gun makers. Windham Weaponry manufactures handguns and rifles, including assault-style carbines, and employs many workers who were with Bushmaster Firearms before that company moved out of state in 2011. A Smith & Wesson factory in Houlton produces handgun parts with a workforce of 120.

Clearly, Mainers and Maine businesses have complicated relationships with guns. So we're curious how your business has responded to calls for managing their use in order to prevent future violence. 

How is your business dealing with the the possibility of gun violence?
We've taken significant anti-gun violence measures, such as active-shooter training (13%, 11 VOTES)
We've made it clear that we're a gun-free zone (11%, 9 VOTES)
We've stepped up employee safety measures in general (7%, 6 VOTES)
We haven't changed much; we're not overly concerned (16%, 13 VOTES)
We don't feel gun control is an issue for our business to deal with (9%, 7 VOTES)
Guns don't kill, people do (44%, 36 VOTES)
Poll Description

Gun control doesn't usually make headlines in Mainebiz, but the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, have galvanized attention nationwide around the issue.

The two shootings, on Aug. 3-4, left 32 people dead and 51 injured. That brings the number of number of Americans killed in mass shootings so far this year to nearly 300, with over 1,000 injured.

Although fortunate to escape the kind of tragedy experienced in Texas and Ohio earlier this month, Maine is not immune to gun violence. And its prevention sometimes involves the Maine business community.

Some Maine companies post warnings that offices are gun-free zones. Employees at downtown Portland businesses have engaged in active-shooter training. Last year, Freeport-based retailer L.L. Bean Inc., which has served recreational hunters since its founding in 1912, banned gun sales to anyone under age 21.

But guns are also responsible for Maine jobs. In addition to hunting merchants like Bean, the state is home to at least two gun makers. Windham Weaponry manufactures handguns and rifles, including assault-style carbines, and employs many workers who were with Bushmaster Firearms before that company moved out of state in 2011. A Smith & Wesson factory in Houlton produces handgun parts with a workforce of 120.

Clearly, Mainers and Maine businesses have complicated relationships with guns. So we're curious how your business has responded to calls for managing their use in order to prevent future violence. 

  • 82 Votes
  • 7 Comments
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7 Comments

  • August 14, 2019
    If gun free zones work, please explain to me why the majority of the mass shootings happen in gun free zones. If strict gun control works, please explain Chicago's firearm death statistics. More gun laws, rules, regulation and gun free zones only impact the law abiding citizen and make them more prone to this type of violence. There is a lot of stories, that the media does not cover because it does not fit their narrative, of a good person with a gun stopping or preventing mass shootings by the intervention. Making yourself feel safer by taking away my means of being safer is not acceptable to me. A firearm is an object that can do no harm until a living, breathing person picks it up and employs it for harmful purposes. It is not a gun problem, it is a people problem.
  • Laurent L'heureux
    August 14, 2019

    No business or institution should post signs indicating a gun free zone. All of the shootings have taken place in "gun free" areas. That is asking for trouble. A better sign might read this business may have armed staff or hired guards to protect its employees and customers.