Page 8 - AHATA

Visit the island’s

Monday popular cave sites!
February 26, 2024
T: 582-7800
www.arubatoday.com
facebook.com/arubatoday
instagram.com/arubatoday
Page 11

Y
L
g
n
E
N
’
a
b
O

s
l
a
p
s
r
e
p
w
h
s
i
e
n

u
Aruba’s ONLY English newspaper
A
r
Chief enforcer of U.S. gun laws fears Americans may become numb
to violence with each mass shooting
By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER consider memorable, life-
LEWISTON, Maine (AP) — altering, shocking events
The head of the federal Bu- that you might think about
reau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and talk about for months
Firearms and Explosives or years to come now are
says he fears that a drum- happening with seeming
beat of mass shootings and frequency that makes it so
other gun violence across that we sort of think, "That's
the United States could just the one that happened
make Americans numb to this week,'" he said. "If we
the bloodshed, fostering come to sort of accept
apathy to finding solutions that, that's a huge hurdle in
rather than galvanizing addressing the problem."
communities to act. Dettelbach, whose agency
Director Steve Dettelbach's is responsible for enforcing
comments to The Associat- the nation’s gun laws, met
ed Press came after he met for nearly two hours at Cen-
this past week with family tral Maine Community Col-
members of some of the 18 lege with relatives of those
people killed in October at killed and survivors of the
a bowling alley and a bar Lewiston shooting. An AP
in Lewiston, Maine by a U.S. reporter also attended,
Army reservist who later along other with law en-
took his own life. forcement officials.
He said people must not Some expressed frustra- Megan Vozzella, who is deaf, signs while describing future concerns following a visit by Steven
Dettelbach, the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, with community mem-
accept that gun violence is tion about missed red flags bers that were personally effected by the October 2023 mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine at
a prevalent part of Ameri- and questioned why the Central Maine Community College, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024, in Auburn, Maine.
can life. gunman was able to get Associated Press
"It seems to me that things the weapon he used. Det-
that we used to sort of telbach told his audience that they can be a power- ful catalyst for change. Continued on next page