Michigan Open Carry, Inc’s attempt to define what it means to “brandish” in Michigan has resulted in a veto from Governor Snyder, though the situation is complicated and not as bad as it sounds. Read on for the full story.
(8)Nuh Uh.
(0)Last night, Traverse City Area Public Schools adopted a new weapons policy and it’s good news for CPL holders. The new policy appears to respect Michigan law and your rights, by allowing those “permitted by law” to carry at TCAPS facilities and events.
Earlier this year TCAPS learned that Open Carry on school property with a CPL is legal in Michigan after someone did just that at one of their school board meetings. Since then, TCAPS has talked with local law-enforcement, reviewed state law, and determined that their weapons policy was not in compliance.
At last month’s TCAPS board meeting new policy language was submitted for review to the board, which was forwarded on to Michigan Open Carry’s leadership by MOC member Andy Marek. MOC’s legislative team looked over the new language and was very pleased to see that the school district appeared to be making a good faith effort to comply with state law. Though the language wasn’t perfect, it was good enough for the team to send TCAPS a letter of support containing a few suggested tweaks, with copious citations of course.
Today we are pleased to report that not only did TCAPS accept the new compliant language(starts on pg. 54) last night, they also adopted almost all of MOC’s suggestions.
It’s good to see another school following the law. As this trend grows, more and more of their worst fears are shown to be baseless and/or absurd. The truth is getting out there – we are not the problem.
Does this mean that the TCAPS board has suddenly turned pro-gun? Well, let’s not get carried away, it may be possible MOC’s pending lawsuit had something to do with it.
However, there are some school districts that are still holding out and continue to look for any possible way to not comply. These holdouts will have to be dealt with the hard way and we need your help. MOC is preparing to file suit against one of these holdouts and we need all of the support we can get.
Won’t you help us continue the trend by donating to Michigan Open Carry’s legal fund today?
Originally published at www.miopencarry.org
(7)Nuh Uh.(0)If you don’t know who Moms Demand Action is, I will give you a quick update. MDA was founded after the Sandy Hook shooting, by a professional communications exec Shannon Watts and is now funded by the billionaire nanny-statist Michael Bloomberg. The group is a national organization with chapters in many states, including Michigan. This group is comprised of both men and women with stated good intentions of reducing “gun violence.”
The problem is, they have no idea what they are talking about.
Look, I’m sure most of the people in this group mean well, but good intentions are about as useful as a “no guns” sign during a mass shooting. If the gun analogy doesn’t work for you then go with a drainage plug in a boat at the bottom of a lake. It sounded good at one point, but it’s pretty useless now.
People who carry guns for protection understand this and much more. These are people who understand that we are all responsible for our own safety, and they put forth a great deal of time and effort towards accepting that responsibility. In essence, these are people who take the time to learn our laws and how to live within them, because for them, being mistaken about a law, even with good intentions, can mean years of prison time. Their life as they know it is on the line.
What does it mean for MDA and the other side? Well, not much. At the worst they just look a little silly which they just can’t seem to stop doing. They have no real investment in this topic and it shows!
Take for instance a recent MDA protest outside of an Ann Arbor Kroger. Essentially, MDA wants Kroger to ask customers to not bring firearms into their stores like a few other chains have recently. Forget for a second the obvious flaw that a simple request will do nothing to stop someone who already has no interest in following our laws, and instead focus on these comments from the MDA rep Kristen Moore at the event:
Moore said that concealed pistol carriers are different.
Those with CPL’s had to go through much more extensive background checks and training to lawfully carry their weapon, she said.
So they are not worried about CPL holders? Well, at least they acknowledge the lengthy process CPL holders have to go through to become licensed.
But here’s the thing. Kroger has a liquor license. Under Michigan law it is illegal for people to possess firearms on the premises of such an establishment, except under a few enumerated circumstances. One of those being for those who have a CPL.
Did you catch that? MDA isn’t worried about CPL holders but is protesting outside of a place where only CPL holders may possess a firearm. Brilliant!
Or how about the time when the Michigan leader for MDA Linda Brundage said a Michigan bill to expand background checks to all long-gun sales was needed to help prevent shootings like one that had just happened in the area. She never did explain how requiring background checks on long-guns would have stopped a shooting where a “properly licensed and registered” pistol was used. I guess we are left to our imagination on that one.
Or the time when Rep. Jim Downsend (D-Royal Oak), a big MDA supporter, said:
We have gun safety in this state […] because of the explosion of organized crime in the 1930’s – Tommy guns shooting up people on every block. That is the reason we started trying to get our arms around getting guns off the streets.
If you are like me then you know right off the top of your head that Michigan’s gun-control act is Public Act 372 of 1927. In case you are wondering, yes the act was passed in 1927, 7 years before the federal government. I even keep a copy of the original wording printed off and highlighted at my desk. Despite repeated requests, Rep. Townsend has yet to explain how events in the 1930’s drove legislation in the previous decade.
I could go on and on about this stuff as there is no shortage of of these people just having no idea what they are doing. Like Andy Schor’s (D-Lansing) gun-control bill meant to ban firearms in certain places that would actually increase the presence of openly carried long guns! My goodness did he miss the mark on that one! Did I mention he is another MDA supporter?
Maybe one of these days the demanding moms and their supporters will invest some time into actually getting a clue. Although, achieving a functional level of understanding usually causes one to leave the pro-gun-control side, which probably explains a lot.
(10)Nuh Uh.(0)
