One of every 100 people you pass by on the streets of Portland may be concealing a hand gun. Unless, of course, he isn’t concealing it.

By Colin S. Sargent

Photography by John McNeil

At 8 p.m., 11-year-old Jesse Sweeny bursts through the door of a neighbor’s home in Casco, frightened and in tears. He had just seen his father wave his revolver and pull the trigger nine times, screaming, “Where’s the bullets?” Jesse’s unemployed parents have been drinking and arguing since dinner. Jesse can’t stand the waiting anymore. He runs back outside to check on his mother and meets a ranting Gary Sweeny walking down the road, screaming, “I can’t believe it. How did that bullet get in there?”

The neighbors call 911.

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