Protests
Senator Bellino , under his constitutional right of protest (Art. 4, Sec. 18), protested against the passage of Senate Bill Nos. 225 and 226 and moved that the statement he made during the discussion of Senate Bill No. 225 be printed as his reasons for voting “no.”
The motion prevailed.
Senator Bellino’s statement is as follows:
By now, I shouldn’t be surprised by the constant attack on our Second Amendment rights, and I’m not. What does always surprise me is the Democrats’ repeated attempts to carve out special rules for lawmakers. As the saying goes: Rules for thee, not for me.
While the Governor and lawmakers have the privilege to be protected by armed officers—and even some of us on the floor carrying—here at the Capitol, law-abiding citizens are not granted that same right. Thankfully, there has never been an incident of gun violence in our State Capitol—never in our State Capitol. Sadly, that can’t be said about other so-called gun-free zones. That’s because criminals, intent on doing harm, don’t care about the law. Anyone brandishing a weapon in a threatening manner in our Capitol should be, and is, being held accountable by existing laws.
We should all be focusing our energy and resources on measures that continue making our communities safer. I urge a “no” vote on these bills.
The following bill was read a third time:
Senate Bill No. 331, entitled
A bill to amend 1927 PA 372, entitled “An act to regulate and license the selling, purchasing, possessing, and carrying of certain firearms, gas ejecting devices, and electro-muscular disruption devices; to prohibit the buying, selling, or carrying of certain firearms, gas ejecting devices, and electro-muscular disruption devices without a license or other authorization; to provide for the forfeiture of firearms and electro-muscular disruption devices under certain circumstances; to provide for penalties and remedies; to provide immunity from civil liability under certain circumstances; to prescribe the powers and duties of certain state and local agencies; to prohibit certain conduct against individuals who apply for or receive a license to carry a concealed pistol; to make appropriations; to prescribe certain conditions for the appropriations; and to repeal all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act,” (MCL 28.421 to 28.435) by adding section 14c.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows: