Brunswick rally marks gun violence awareness day, offers free lockboxes

Brunswick residents will be asked to turn awareness into action Saturday at Brunswick Town Mall, where the Maine Gun Safety Coalition plans to tie its EverOrange rally to one concrete step: free handgun lockboxes for households with children. The event runs from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at 191-195 Maine Street and is part of the 12th National Gun Violence Awareness Day, better known as Wear Orange Day.

The coalition is using the morning event to make a local case for what it says gun violence prevention looks like in practice. Along with speakers, organizers plan to offer orange T-shirts, gun safety awareness materials, posters and placards, then may lead a march down Maine Street and back to the mall after remarks. The message is aimed not just at attendees, but at families, schools and officials asked to normalize secure firearm storage and support the policy changes already moving through Maine.

That policy backdrop is central to the rally’s urgency. Supporters of Question 2, approved by Maine voters in 2025, say the measure established a statewide Extreme Risk Protection Order law that allows family members, household members or law enforcement to petition a court to restrict firearm access when someone poses a significant danger. Organizers are also linking the Brunswick event to the coalition’s Keep Kids Safe initiative, launched with the Maine Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics to promote secure firearm storage across the state.

The coalition has lined up a broad mix of political, medical and advocacy voices. Promoted speakers include gubernatorial candidates Shenna Bellows, Troy Jackson and Nirav Shah, along with Senate President Mattie Daughtry and Arthur Barnard, the father of Lewiston victim Artie Strout. Listed partners include the Maine Pediatricians Association, Maine Providers for Gun Safety, Brunswick Area Indivisible, Harpswell Indivisible, Moms Demand Action and Maine Students Demand Action.

The rally arrives against a troubling statewide record. A Maine legislative health report says the state averaged 175 firearm deaths from 2020 to 2024, and state health reporting identifies suicide as the leading cause of those deaths. Maine reported 195 firearm deaths in 2023 and 171 in 2024, a decline, but one that advocates say does not erase the broader trend. The event also comes after a 2021 state law made it a Class D crime in certain circumstances to allow a child under 16 to access a loaded firearm, a standard that gun safety groups continue to cite as a model for stronger prevention efforts.