×

Continued debate over open-carry in schools

In the biz they call them MOS’s. For some crazy reason TV producers plunk man-on-the-street sound bites into the middle of an otherwise credible news story. It’s probably a TV news consultant driven bit of non-journalistic “wisdom” designed to boost the ratings. Suffice to say any self-respecting journalist is driven batty by all this.

Except when you run into guys like Rick from Kalamazoo. Decked out in his Sunday best camo, Rick was on the capitol lawn during Open Carry Day last month and he delivered a very pithy sound bite.

For those without a subscription to Gun and Ammo magazine, on this day, gun owners show up with their rifles, shotguns, AK 47s, and what-not strapped on their shoulders, waists, legs, and arms for the whole world to see. It’s all very legal but for some it’s all mighty scary.

On this day 12 schools were going to tour the capitol, but when the tour office notified them they would share the building with the gun owners, two of the schools found something else to do.

One MOS dad who did arrive with his school kid opined, “I have reservations about that but there is enough security to protect us.”

True. Extra state police and even a bomb sniffing pooch were working the perimeter.

A Democrat lawmaker from West Michigan paused in front of the capitol steps to survey this unusual array of weapons. His take? He wouldn’t own a gun if his life depended on it but those at the rally would have told him, it does.

And then there was MOS Rick’s sound bite. “Nobody is going to do a mass murder up here today with so many legally carrying.”

A would-be mass murderer would have been stopped in his or her tracks, as they say, by enough bullets to make them look like a piece of Swiss cheese.

The consensus of all the MOS’s in the crowd was, “hey we are all safer when we open carry.”

Tell that to the school officials in Ann Arbor and elsewhere who fear that the appearance of a gun in their school hallways is not exactly conducive to Johnnie and Janie learning anything.

But another MOS gun Mom was reflective regarding those scared kids. “Maybe they need to be educated … If we did have them (guns) in the schools, some of the events would not have happened in the past.” (Think Sandy Hook.)

Inside the capitol, Sen. Steve Beida, who is not necessarily against guns being from Macomb County and all, wonders, “How did we ever get this crazy? You cannot carry a sign in the capitol.” (That’s because the guardians of the building know they can nick the paint, scratch the floor or what not.) “But they allow guns in the building” which could do more than nick, scratch or what not.

Which is why Sen. Mike Green is hoping to ban open carry in schools.

Mr. Green is no wide-eyed liberal from Ann Arbor. He’s a gun-totting, NRA Republican who has concluded that open carry in schools is disruptive. The talks with the governor’s office on this pending ban remain a work in progress.

The senator would like to craft a bill that bans open carry but allows gun owners with concealed weapons to enter any place they want.

He thinks that is a reasonable compromise.

The problem is there is another shotgun owner who is part of the discussions and he doesn’t favor any guns, open or otherwise, in the schools.

His name is Rick Snyder.

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.62/week.

Subscribe Today