After U.S. Rep. Jared Golden’s public change of coronary heart over the necessity for an assault weapons ban, Republicans, together with potential rivals for his 2nd District congressional seat, mentioned he was politicizing the tragedy in Lewiston.

Maine GOP chair Joel Stetkis issued a press release saying “it is clear that many politicians are seeking to capitalize on this tragedy by pushing for radical changes to Maine laws.”

State Rep. Austin Theriault, who’s amongst Golden’s Republican challengers, mentioned the Democratic congressman was making an attempt to “score political points by attacking the 2nd Amendment.”

Theriault, who represents Fort Kent within the legislature, additionally mentioned that we’re seeing the “consequences of our political inaction” to “invest in the people who are struggling the most.”

“I’m calling for the largest-ever investment in mental health care and access that the country has ever seen,” Theriault vowed.

That isn’t any small promise, and I’d genuinely love to listen to extra about this plan.

Would that funding imply ensuring everybody in Maine has entry to medical health insurance that covers psychological well being? Or would psychological well being care simply be one thing the state supplies? Would we increase taxes to pay for the funding? Would this additionally embody substance use therapy? Would we forgive pupil loans for individuals concerned about pursuing a grasp’s diploma in social work, psychiatry or psychological well being counseling? Would practitioners must battle for approvals and reimbursements from non-public insurance coverage corporations? Or would the state present a direct subsidy for the work to incentivize suppliers to come back to Maine?

An annual report by nationwide nonprofit Mental Health America ranks Maine twenty sixth within the nation—smack within the center, however the worst in New England—when it comes to prevalence of psychological sickness and decrease charges of entry to look after each youth and adults.

Maine ranks forty second when it comes to prevalence of psychological sickness for adults.

The 2023 research additionally discovered that 53.5%, or 127,000, of adults with any psychological sickness in Maine didn’t obtain therapy and 27.4% of them reported an unmet want, which means those that sought therapy however confronted boundaries to getting the assistance they wanted. A reported 14.1% of adults in Maine with any psychological sickness are uninsured.

To get a way of how under-resourced Maine’s psychological well being system is at the moment, Betsy Sweet, a lobbyist who works on behalf of the Behavioral Health Collaborative in Maine, mentioned there are lower than 100 cell psychological well being disaster employees, who’re required to cowl the complete state 24/7. There is a seven to eight month ready listing to get an appointment to see a psychiatrist, medical social employee, or therapist. For these dwelling in one of many extra rural areas of the state, “you need to drive two hours, not just for your crisis, but if you want to go in for a regular appointment once a month.”

Sweet estimated {that a} absolutely resourced psychological well being system in Maine would require ongoing funding of $50-100 million a yr. The price range handed final yr included a one-time funding of $20 million for behavioral well being providers however, as Sweet famous, that “did not even get us to the baseline of what’s needed with the lack of funding over the past two decades.”

Because, the reality is, the underinvestment in psychological well being has very a lot been a political resolution, and in Maine it stems largely from the actions of the Republican Party and administration of former Gov. Paul LePage. Together, LePage and the GOP slashed the price range of the Department of Health and Human Services, kicked low-income individuals off Medicaid, and refused to acquiesce to the need of voters and the legislature and develop Medicaid.

A large funding in our psychological well being care system is sorely wanted, however gained’t be constructed in a single day. Not solely do you want the funding, the coaching, and the infrastructure, however you additionally have to persuade your Uncle Frank that it’s OK to speak to somebody when he’s feeling unhappy and offended.

But there are alternatives for extra pressing reforms. Some states have carried out insurance policies to attempt to stop the type of mass loss of life that occurred right here final week, comparable to state-level assault rifle bans, background checks, and precise purple flag legal guidelines that be certain that individuals deemed harmful to themselves or others can’t entry deadly weapons. Even with all these insurance policies in place, it might not impinge on the flexibility of a educated, law-abiding individual to personal any variety of weapons to hunt deer or defend their dwelling or train their 2nd Amendment proper.

And regardless that the complete nation is crying for cover from gun violence, as Golden famous in his subsequent interview with the Bangor Daily News, that too gained’t occur instantly on the nationwide stage, with our break up authorities (which really can’t agree on the colour of the sky).

But Mainers are demanding motion and with a Democratic trifecta it’s doable that state leaders might name a particular session and cross one thing in a matter of weeks, to make sure that the horrible, horrible loss felt by so many individuals proper now by no means occurs once more.

Lauren McCauley is the editor of Maine Morning Star, a part of the State Newsroom community. Through its opinion part, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who find themselves affected by public insurance policies or excluded from public debate. Find data, together with the right way to submit your individual commentary, here.