LANSING (WWJ) – An attempt to bring new bills to the floor of the Michigan Senate that would impose new gun storage standards has been blocked by Republicans.
Michigan Democrats on Wednesday – a day after a school shooting claimed 21 lives, including 19 young children – tried to advance a bill that would have placed new safe storage requirements on gun owners if their weapons could potentially be accessed by minors.
The GOP-controlled Senate voted 22-14 along party lines, sending the storage bills back to the Government Operations Committee.
Under the proposal, gun owners would be required to keep their weapons in a locked box, store them in a secure location or use a locking device.
Violators would be guilty of a misdemeanor if a minor used the gun in a threatening manner and guilty of a felony if a minor used it to harm others.
The package of gun safety laws also included an order for universal background checks.
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An impassioned Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, urged his colleagues to act in the wake of the Texas school shooting:
“We cannot have one more child in this state and in this country wondering if it’s their last day in this state and in this country as they go to school,” Moss said.
“This is ridiculous. Let’s get moving,” he said.
But Republicans like Ken Horn saw things differently. Horn, of Frankenmuth, was one of many Republican opponents of the bill. He said families are grieving and it is “way too early to assign bill numbers to their grief.”
“They don’t give a flying frog what we do here in the Senate. Right now, they’re not paying attention to us,” he said.
Democratic Sen. Rosemary Bayer of Beverly Hills, the sponsor of one of the bills, called it an “urgent situation we are facing.” She was one of several lawmakers to point towards last November’s deadly shooting at Oxford High School.
"We have been talking to you about this for years, over and over again,” Bayer said. “This is urgent now because again we did nothing after the Oxford shootings. We did nothing after the Buffalo shootings. Now, we don't want to do anything today.”
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