In the wake of the devastating events in Lewiston on October 25th, the undersigned healthcare providers of Maine call on our elected local, state, and federal officials to take immediate and decisive action to address firearm safety. Our hearts ache for the families and friends of those killed or injured, and we grieve alongside them. We are overwhelmed at the thought of our incredible emergency responders and healthcare workers who performed their duties with skill and compassion in the face of chaos and terror. Despite our sadness and shock, we are standing together today, a unified force, to demand change.

Many of us have watched from afar as communities across our nation endured one mass shooting after another. We listened, dumbfounded, as public health researchers informed us that firearm fatalities had surpassed motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of death among children, adolescents, and young adults. We stood up in protest when, in response to a position paper from the American College of Physicians on reducing firearm injuries and deaths, the NRA told physicians to “stay in their lane.”

Now more than ever, we understand the importance of having our voices heard. Gun violence is a multi-faceted public health issue and deserves a robust public health response. Over the years, as many states across our nation have chosen to either strengthen or weaken firearm regulations, we have amassed a wealth of data on how those measures impacted firearm safety in those states, for better and for worse. As leaders in healthcare, we urge lawmakers to bring us to the table as we call for common-sense gun legislation.

To preempt any arguments that we desire to outlaw all guns, let us be clear. As a diverse group of healthcare providers, we are not anti-gun, we do not seek to infringe on the Second Amendment, and we are not calling for a relinquishment of firearms. We do not seek to deny others their right to possess firearms for hunting, sport, or self-defense, and in fact, many of us are gun owners ourselves. However, we recognize that our current set of laws regarding firearms are woefully inadequate at keeping our communities safe.

There is broad consensus that our nation is undergoing a mental health crisis. This crisis is influenced by a multitude of factors, including stigma and discrimination, a lack of access to care, historical underfunding of mental health services, a worsening opioid epidemic, and an epidemic of loneliness, just to name a few. While we urge greater investment in mental health care and understand that it plays a part in the problem, we also know that addressing mental health will not solve the gun violence epidemic that is unique to the United States of America.

Mass shootings are not the only manifestation of the lack of appropriate firearm legislation in our country. Unintentional firearm injuries, intimate partner violence, suicide, community violence, and illegal gun trafficking all need to be a part of the discussion. Addressing these issues necessitates a comprehensive approach that balances the rights and responsibilities of gun owners along with public safety. We welcome anyone who wants to come together to protect the lives of our patients, our families, and our communities, to join us in this call for reform.

It’s time for us to stand up and take our state’s motto, DIRIGO, to heart. Maine has an opportunity to lead on this issue, to strike a balance between gun safety and gun ownership and to serve as an example to the nation for how we can make this right.

Signature count as of 4/23/2024: 526

Signatures will be updated every 1-2 weeks.

Mark Abel, MD

Connie Adler, MD

Ambia Ahmed, MD

Khaled Al Sibai, MD

Heidi Alpern, CRNA

Warren Alpern, MD

Crystal Alvarez, DO

Laura Amar-Dolan, MD

Joe Anderson, DO

Hadi Anwar, MD

Armand Auger, MD

Roger Austin, MD

Robert Bach, MD

Lizzie Baker, MD

Meredith Baker, MD

Blair Baldwin, DO

Elaine Balutis, MD

Kate Balzano-Cowan, CRNA

Nathan Bankoff, MD

Alison Bates, NP

Annie Batten, MD

John Baxter, MD

Jonathan Beal, NP

Jennifer Beall, MD

Jordan Beall, PA

Melissa Beauregard, NP

Christine Beguin-Fernald, DNP, PMHNP-BC

Erin Belfort, MD

Ed Bender, DO

Shannon Bennett, DO

Layla Billings, NP

Stephanie Birdsall, NP

Laura Blaisdell, MD

Demetri Blanas, MD

Jessica Bloom-Foster, MD

Ron Blum, MD

Elizabeth Bobzien, MD

Rebecca Bolduc, NP

Shulamith Bonham, MD, MPH

Margaret Bordeau, DO

Catherine Boucher-Cornelio, DO

Nancy Boulanger, MD

April Bourgoin, DNAP, CRNA

Rebecca Brakeley, MD

Mark Braun, MD

John Brewer, DO

Kevin Brill, MD

Margaret Brill, MD

Kathryn Brouillette, MD

Anne Brown, MD

David Brown, MD

Eric Brown, MD

Richard Brown, MD

Allen Browne, MD

Meredith Bruskin, NP

Amy Buczkowski, MD

Morgen Buehner, MD

Eliza Bullis, MD

Melissa Burch, MD

Erica Burkhart, NP

Deirdre Burns, MD

Patrick Butsch, MD

Paul Cain, MD

Kimberly Caldwell, PA-C

Melanie Campbell, NP

Amanda Cardella, DO

Lisa Carpenter, DO

Andrea Carr, NP

Shannon Carr, MD

Suzanne Carr, MD

Sheila Carroll, MD

Joseph Caruso, MD

Susan Cary, MD

Kristen Casey, PA

Avian Chang, MD

Margaret Chapin, NP

Virginia Chapin, PA

Magili Chapman Quinn, DO

Susan Chase, PMH-NP

Susan Cheff, MD

Lauren Ciszak, MD

Gabriel Civiello, MD

Kristen Clark, MD

Michael Clark, MD

Ned Claxton, MD

Lise Cloutier, MD

Anne Coates, MD

Sarah Coburn, MD

Rachel Coffey, DO

Harpswell Coffin, FNP

Melissa Collard, MD

Doug Collins, MD

Patricia Collins, DO

Patrick Connolly, MD

Steven Constantino, Jr., MD

Sally Cooper, MD

Stephanie Corriveau, DO

Arianna Cortesi, MD

Renee Courtemanche, AGPCNP-BC

Gillian Croteau, PA

Thomas Crowe, MD

Catherine Crute, MD

Samantha Culver, DO

Peter Currie, CRNA

Peggy Cyr, MD

John Daggett, MD

Jennifer Daigle, NP

Richard D'Alessandro, MD

Abigail Dalzell, NP

Brien Davis, FNP

Rosie Davis, MD

John Deason, PharmD

Garreth Debiegun, MD

Cynthia Dechenes, MD

Bart DeCristoforo, PA

Jennifer Delker, FNP

Emily Demetriou, MD

Gabriela DeOliveira, MD

Shannon Deschenes, DO

Cynthia DeSoi, MD

Eric DeVries, MD

Katie Diamond-Falk, MD

Bailey Ditmer, DO

Sarah Dodwell, MD

Nathan Donaldson, DO

Daniel Dorsky, PA-C

Douglas Dransfield, MD

Norma Dreyfus, MD

Jennifer Drouin, NP

Janet Duncan, NP

Alissa Dunn, FNP

Michael Dunnington, CRNA

Nicole Egenberger, ND

Maria Egger, PA-C

Don Endrizzi, MD

Michael Eng, MD

Ian Engler, MD

Clancy Erickson, NP

Emily Erickson, MD

Jessica Evans, MD

Renee Fagone, NP

Jessica Faraci, MD

Abtin Farahmand, MD

Benedict Farino, MD

Renee Fay-LeBlanc, MD

Jamie Fey, MD

Alyssa Finn, MD

Timothy Fitzgerald, MD

Rosemary Fitzpatrick, PA

Mollie Flahaven, NP

Elizabeth Flory, MD

Erin Flynn, MD

Emily Follo, MD

Garrett Fontaine, MD

Christopher Foote, DO

Katherine Foote, DO

Marybeth Ford, MD

Elisabeth Fowlie Mock, MD, MPH

Julie Franklin, NP

Catherine Fredricks, DO

Jennifer Friedman, MB ChB (UK)

Ruth Frydman, MD

Sarah Fuhrman, FNP

Maureen Furlong, CRNA

Anna Furr, DO

Melissa Gagne, NP

Amanda Gagnon, DO

Abby Gallant, PA

Sarah Gallo, MD

Margaret Gardiner, FNP

Michael Garnett, MD

Leslie Gass, DO

Elizabeth George, MD, MPH

Claudia Geyer, MD

Daniel Gibbons, DO

Daniel Gibbons, DO

Brandon Giberson, DO

Katie Gillihan, NP

Nora Glasspool, MD

Geeta Godara, MD

Jacey Goddard, DO

Jacey Goddard, DO

Marya Goettsche Spurling, MD

Heidi Golden, MD

Madeline Goodman, DO

Alyssa Goodwin, MD

Henk Goorhuis, MD

Bernard Gordon, MD

Katie Gordon, PNP

Stephen Goss, DO

Lani Graham, MD, MPH

R. Reed Gramse, MD

Sarah Gray, MD

Pamela Green, CRNA

Rebecca Greenleaf, FNP

Jenner Greil, NP

Allison Grover, MD, MS

Peter Guilfoyle, PA

Hadley Gunnell, MD

Stacey Gutman, MD

Samantha Guyette, PA

Holly Gwozdz, DO

Hamish Haddow, MD

Deborah Hagler, MD

Ben Hagopian, MD

Alice Haines, MD

David Hallbert, MD

Jeffrey Halter, MD

Deborah Hamilton, MD

Tarek Hammour, MD

Emily Hansen, CNM

Scott Hanson, MD

Laura Harris, FNP

Edward Harrow, MD

Nancy Hasenfus, MD

Elizabeth Hassett, PA

Robert Hayes, DO

Stephen Hayes, MD

Jennifer Hayman, MD

Rebecca Hemphill, MD

Charles Hendricks, MD

Jodie Hermann, DO

Linda Hermans, MD

Anne Herrick, ANP

Stacy Hershfeld, DO

Tayla Hewins, PMHNP

Leigh Ann Higgins, MD

Ross Hilliard, MD

Christopher Hjorth, MD

Jane Ho, MD

Persis Hope, FNP, RNC

Linda Horn, APRN

Cassandra Hotaling Hahn, PA

Erin Howard, NP

Lynn Howard, NP

Allyson Howe, MD

Carol Hubbard, MD, MPH, PhD

Laurie Huntress, MD

Paul Hyman, MD

David Inger, MD

Adriana Isacke, DO

Jessica Iyer, MD

Meredith Jackson, MD

Lauren Jamele-Townley, DO

Hani Jarawan, MD

Courtney Jensen, MD, MBA

Frances Jensen, MD

Lora Jobe, MD

Doug Johnston, MD

Myriam Jolicoeur, MD

Anna Jorgensen, MD

Genesis Juat, MD

Jennifer Jubulis, MD

Zhyldyz Kabaeva, MD

Kristin Kalajian, PA-C

Christina Kapala, DO

Marc Kaplan, DO

Jonathan Karnes, MD

Amanda Keene, PA

Emily Keller, MD, MPH

Kurt Kelley, MD

Nichole Kelly, NP

Jessie Kerr, MD