Gun Safety
Brendan’s Plan for Gun Violence Prevention
Here in the Rochester area, we are very proud to be from the safest community in Michigan – and rightfully so. Yet as peaceful as our community may be, none of us are immune to news headlines of mass shootings and other instances of senseless gun violence that plague our nation. Theaters. Schools. Churches. Bars. Concerts. It seems every other month a new venue is struck from the list of “safe spaces” – spaces where Americans can go and not worry about whether they will be safe.
As someone who grew up in the era of mass shooting drills at school, I can tell you personally how traumatizing it is to watch fellow students fleeing their school buildings on television. Children should be spending their time learning their ABCs, and not how to “hide, quiet, freeze.” Our state and country are woefully ill-equipped to fix our current reality, but there are several steps we can take right now to at least fix the things within our control.
So here’s my plan:
Expanding and Strengthening Background Checks
Work with our federal representatives in the U.S. House and Senate to pass into law universal background checks. In 2019, the U.S. House passed two such bills – H.R. 8, the Bipartisan Background Check Act of 2019 and H.R. 1112, the Enhanced Background Checks Act of 2019. I, along with Mayors Barnett (Rochester Hills) and Ray (Rochester) support this bipartisan legislation, and we must continue to put pressure on our U.S. Senators to prioritize this.
Amend accidental typos in current Michigan law to require criminal background checks on all firearms, not just “handguns.”
Remove unsafe background check exemptions for loaned firearms, as are currently granted in Michigan law.
Guaranteeing Community Safety
Protect our students by ensuring that the only firearms allowed on school campuses are those which are maintained by sanctioned law enforcement and security personnel.
Demilitarize civilian Michiganders. There is no reason the weapons our troops use in battle are needed on the streets of Rochester. I will work to enact state law to outright prohibit the transfer or possession of assault weapons, 50 caliber rifles, or large capacity ammunition magazines.
Prevent crises before they occur by enacting extreme risk detection laws, sometimes called “red flag laws.” These proposed laws, which are supported by Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard, allow concerned family members and local law enforcement officials to ask a court for an extreme risk protection order to, while ensuring due process, temporarily suspend access to guns by a person who poses a serious threat to themselves or others.
Reexamine the utility and effectiveness of Michigan’s Stand Your Ground law. A 2018 study concluded that these laws actually increase homicides instances, particularly where firearms are involved. Any law that results in more Michigander deaths is not a good law.
Closing Loopholes and Ensuring Safe Ownership
End the gun-involved domestic abuse crisis against women. The vast majority of women killed with guns in the United States are killed by intimate partners or family members and the presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation makes it five times more likely that a woman will be killed. To end this tragic pattern, I will:
Support state law prohibiting people in any relationship, not just spouses, who have been convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors from having any firearms – not only handguns.
Support state law requiring abusers convicted of domestic violence misdemeanors to turn in their firearms when they become prohibited from having them.
Support state law prohibiting all people under final domestic violence restraining orders from having firearms.
Support state law prohibiting all people under temporary domestic violence restraining orders from having firearms.
Support state law prohibiting all convicted stalkers in the state of Michigan from having firearms.
Support state law requiring law enforcement to remove firearms from the scene of a domestic violence incident.
Ensure child safety at home by enacting safe storage laws, requiring firearm owners to lock their weapons in appropriate cases when not in use.
Make Michigan make sense with one minimum age. Since different gun laws in Michigan yield different minimum ages (18 vs. 21) for firearm purchase, all minimum ages should be set at 21 years old.
Join our campaign or chip in $25 today to show your support of this plan to prevent gun violence
For more information on Michigan gun laws, please visit the Gifford Law Center here.
Want to influence this or future policies? Brendan is establishing several Advisory Board committees to help guide his policies during the campaign and also when he is elected in Lansing. Sign up to join!