To hear the supporters of Question 3 — Michael Bloomberg’s attempt to impose nanny-state universal background checks — tell it, you’d be forgiven to think that Maine is an anarchic backwater with gunfights on every corner and bullets whizzing past innocent bystanders. This is hardly the truth, of course. Indeed, far from being a state awash in crime, Maine is one of the least violent states in the nation. Even with the recent opioid epidemic that has swept Maine, violent crime has not been skyrocketing. This isn’t just true in Maine, but nationwide — violent crime has been dropping like a rock across this country over the past two decades. There were over 7,000 fewer homicides in 2014 than in 1995.
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