Gun 'bullies' spread fear in Augusta (Maine)

[jpak]

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/nemitz/050511nemitz.shtml


She knows that simply asking the question is enough to set them off. But Cathie Whittenburg, executive director of Maine Citizens Against Handgun Violence, can't help herself.

"What ever happened to civility?" Whittenburg asked Tuesday as her group's legislative agenda - or what's left of it - limped toward the end of the session. "There's a level of anger here that you don't see with other bills. And these people, you know, are armed!"

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But lately, those bullies have Whittenburg worried. Last week's story out of Augusta - that state Sen. Ethan Strimling, D-Portland, had forwarded three pieces of hate mail to the Attorney General's Office, including one from the "No Warning Headshot Photo Lab for Freedom" - is but one example of what Whittenburg calls a stepped-up offensive against anyone who dares submit a bill containing the word "firearm." (Strimling apparently put himself in the cross hairs by proposing that Maine adopt a statewide ban on assault weapons.)

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Earlier in the session, Pelletier-Simpson's response to one nasty e-mail about her bill (the tax part has been stripped out, she said, while the rest of the proposal is "on life support") found its way to an ultra-conservative Web site. She came home from a weekend away to find her answering machine full of messages - all from men, all screaming, all saying "I had no right to represent people. I should resign my office . . . "

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