Senator Collins Questions Secretary of Defense on Lewiston Shooting

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Washington, D.C. – At an Appropriations hearing to review the Fiscal Year 2025 budget request for the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Senator Susan Collins questioned Secretary Lloyd Austin about the horrific mass shooting that occurred in Lewiston, Maine on October 25, 2023.  The killer, Robert Card, was a Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army Reserve.  

During her questions, Senator Collins acknowledged the ongoing investigation by the Army Inspector General (IG) that she called for in November of 2023 in order to more fully understand what happened and what could have been done differently to prevent this mass shooting at the local, state, and federal levels. 

After the conclusion of the Army IG investigation and with the benefit of its findings, Senator Collins intends to draft legislation that will require U.S. military services to report to the appropriate authorities when a service member poses a threat to him or herself, or to others, while protecting the Second Amendment rights of our service members.

In response to her questions, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin committed to work with her on such legislation. 

Senator Collins is the Vice Chair of the Appropriations Committee and Subcommittee on Defense.

Below is the full transcript of their exchange.

Senator Collins said:

On October 25, 2023 – that was the darkest day in Maine history in my lifetime.  Eighteen Mainers lost their lives, thirteen others were injured in the worst mass shooting that we have seen.

The killer, Robert Card, was a Sergeant First Class in the U.S. Army Reserve.  The Governor of Maine established an independent commission that has issued an interim report.  And that report included several very troubling findings about missed opportunities to prevent this tragedy.

For instance, mental health providers recommended to Mr. Card's Army Reserve unit that ‘measures be taken to safely remove all firearms and weapons from his home.’  While the Army Reserve unit took appropriate action to reserve Mr. Card's access to military weapons, this recommendation was never communicated by the Army to relevant law enforcement agencies in Maine. 

We had members of Mr. Card's unit raising alarms with their supervisors about their fear that he was extremely dangerous.  He actually assaulted a fellow soldier.  He was institutionalized for two weeks at a hospital for those with mental illness in New York state while he was on drill.

We have an Inspector General's report that is underway to look at this more thoroughly.  After I receive that report, I intend to draft legislation that would require our military services to report to the appropriate authorities when a service member poses a threat to him or herself, or to others, while protecting the Second Amendment rights of our service members.

Would you commit to working with me on such legislation to establish formal policies and procedures, so that we can ensure that our military services share this kind of relevant information with law enforcement and with state officials under the appropriate state laws?

Secretary Austin replied:

Well, first of all, this was a tragedy, and my thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by this tragedy.

The health and welfare of our troops is very important to me, at the top of my mind all the time.  So is the health and welfare of our community members. 

And so, absolutely, we will work with you to ensure that we have the mechanisms to, where appropriate, pass relevant information to authorities.  And so, I look forward to my staff engaging your staff on this issue going forward.

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