As we stand here and debate these historic gun safety bills — bills that have been proven to be effective in saving lives in other states — I keep hearing concerns, complaints, maybe even excuses that gun safety bills won’t prevent every instance of gun violence, that these gun safety bills won’t stop every kid from being a victim of an accidental shooting, that they won’t protect every domestic violence victim from violence. And this is all coming from people who seem to think that thoughts and prayers are a sufficient answer to the scourge of gun violence in our nation. People who also had the power to work on gun safety, work on mental health, work on school safety for years and neglected that responsibility. I hope you don’t feel the same way about seatbelts or contraception. None of these things are 100 percent effective and we can’t promise in a free society that any particular law is going to be obeyed 100 percent of the time. We don’t take that approach to murder, we don’t take that approach to robbery, we don’t take that approach to speed limits, we don’t take that approach to literally any law. That’s why, to people like me, it just sounds like an excuse for inaction.
I also hear people blaming law enforcement, blaming schools, but I can tell you I’ve been listening to the people of Michigan and I can tell you that they’ve been blaming this Legislature. They’ve been blaming this very Senate who for decades refused to do anything to prevent gun violence. Well, that’s not what we seem to be doing here today. It seems like the winds of change are blowing and I am hearing a lot of support from Michigan citizens who say, Finally. Finally in the wake of these tragedies the Legislature is doing something to reduce gun violence, and I am particularly proud to be standing here voting for bills that have proven to save lives in other states.
The final thing I want to say is while I hear people blaming law enforcement and trying to find all sorts of excuses about what happened at MSU, saying these bills wouldn’t have done anything to address that concern, but what I heard in committee from law enforcement was that they needed tools and they need tools to take guns out of the hands of people who have been proven to be dangerous. This shooter at MSU was waving red flags all over the place. He was waving them around town, he was waving them around his neighborhood, and this legislation we’re voting on today would have given his father who expressed concerns the opportunity to do something, to say something. So, when you say these bills wouldn’t have done anything, when there were red flags waving everywhere, that just doesn’t wash with me. It doesn’t make any sense. That’s why I’m proud to be standing here today voting in favor of a broad set of gun safety bills, voting in favor of extreme risk protection orders that are going to save some lives here in this state.
Senator Bayer’s statement is as follows:
Just briefly, we’ve heard many, many comments from that side of the room again and again suggesting that these bills aren’t proven to do anything, these bills won’t make any difference, when the fact is if you could bother to read the data, these bills do make a difference in other states. These bills do reduce violence in other states. This is a U.S.-only problem, this gun thing that’s happening here. Countries—whole countries—don’t see anything like this kind of issue going on and it’s because they regulate firearms. We are the ones. We have far and away multiple times as many gun violence incidents as any other country. There’s no reason for this except that we have no regulation. We do not adequately take care of the people in our state and in our country. We have the opportunity to finally make a change here with things that are proven to work in the United States with other states like us. It’s time to take this action, do the right thing by the people who elected us. Thank you.
Senator McDonald Rivet’s statement is as follows:
I rise again around this package of bills with a simple question. Were you listening when the students gathered on the steps of this Capitol and begged us to take action? Were you listening when the moms for decades have been in this building begging us to take action? Were you listening when your coffee hours were flooded, when your offices were flooded begging to have action taken to protect our children? And for those who rise in this chamber with the audacity to point their fingers at prosecutors, at teachers, at community members as a justification for not voting for these bills, I would say it is time to do our jobs. We have to get this done and protect the children and citizens in our state.
The following bill was read a third time:
Senate Bill No. 86, entitled
A bill to amend 1961 PA 236, entitled “Revised judicature act of 1961,” by amending sections 1908, 2529, and 2559 (MCL 600.1908, 600.2529, and 600.2559), section 2529 as amended by 2014 PA 532 and section 2559 as amended by 2018 PA 261.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows: