Moms and students continue push for policies to address gun violence in Michigan
Members of Students Demand Action pose on the Capitol steps on May 14, 2024. | Kyle Davidson
Members of Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action on Tuesday took to downtown Lansing as they called on the Legislature to pass additional measures to prevent gun violence.
Michigan lawmakers passed a number of gun law reforms in 2023 following the mass shooting at Michigan State University, including universal background checks, safe storage requirements, policies enabling extreme risk protection orders — also known as red flag laws — and expanding the ban keeping domestic abusers from possessing a firearm.
With many of the new laws taking effect in February, advocates asked lawmakers to continue pushing forward on gun violence prevention measures, including banning firearms at polling places, requiring schools to provide parents with information on Michigan’s safe storage law, funding community violence intervention work and continued support in implementing the safe storage requirements, extreme risk protection orders and domestic violence relinquishment.
Saylor Reinders, the co-lead of Students Demand Action Michigan State University, noted that gun deaths were the largest cause of death for children in Michigan.
“Just as long as that statistic remains the same. We need to keep pushing for more change at the legislative level, at the community level,” Reinders said. “It’s a very multifaceted, multifaceted crisis that demands nuanced solutions. So we need to come at it from all different angles.”
Denise Wieck, the president and co-founder of Lock It For Everyone, called for action on ghost guns, unserialized weapons assembled from weapons parts kits or incomplete frames and receivers which can be purchased without a background check.
When Wieck’s son was 17, he was shot by a friend who assembled a ghost gun from a kit. While he survived after being shot in the eye socket, the bullet and bone fragments are still embedded in his brain, Wieck said.
Wieck has since launched a nonprofit called Lock It For Everyone (LIFE).
“We’re doing that to try to get kids off the streets, teach people about gun storage, gun safety and also we want to empower youth,” she said.
State Sen. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit) and state Rep. Felicia Brabec (D-Pittsfield Twp.) rallied alongside Moms Demand Action and Students Demand Action At Central United Methodist Church in downtown Lansing before members left to meet with legislators.
“As a mom, wanting to be here to support other moms, gun violence prevention, and being able to stymie what we’re seeing in our communities is top of mind for me. I think nothing is more important than our kiddos,” said Brabec, who chairs the Michigan Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention (MFSVP) Caucus.
Alongside bills aimed at protecting polling places and government buildings from gun violence, Brabec also noted an effort from the Michigan State Police (MSP) to ensure weapons purchased through gun buybacks or confiscated by the MSP are completely destroyed, following a New York Times report that gun disposal companies were reselling parts of the weapons as kits.
Policies to end gun manufacturers’ immunity from lawsuits and to address ghost guns are also on lawmakers’ radar, Brabec said.
“Rep. Lori Stone, who’s now the mayor of Warren … she had some bills about [ghost guns]. Obviously, we have not forgotten about those bills. … These things can just take time, but that is another one that absolutely needs to be addressed, as well,” Brabec said.
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