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The League of Women Voters of Michigan supports the firearm safety bills introduced in the Michigan House of Representatives and Michigan Senate that provide greater safety for the residents of this state.
Click here to contact your legislators.
The bills introduced Senate Bills 76-86 and House Bills 4138-4148 would extend the criminal background check to all firearm sales including those online and at gun shows, would require gun owners to store their firearms in a secure location and providing penalties for storing/leaving a firearm where it may be accessed by a minor, would offer sales and use tax incentives for safety devices to encourage safe storage, would provide the pathway for Extreme Risk Protection Orders that temporarily prohibit a person who is at risk of harming themselves or others from purchasing or possessing a firearm. LWVMI also supports House Bills 4127 & 4128 that prohibit guns at election locations.
The mass shootings at Michigan State University and the gun deaths at Oxford High School remind us that gun violence is not something that happens to other people. The pain, sadness, fear and grief we experience must be multiplied by every past gun tragedy and turned in actions that can address this complex issue.
The League of Women Voters supports protecting the health and safety of citizens through limiting the accessibility and regulating the ownership of handguns and semi-automatic weapons and supports regulation of firearms for consumer safety.
The legislators who wrote and introduced these bills are in touch with the research base that documents and studies strategies to reduce gun deaths and injuries.
No laws can guarantee the prevention of firearm tragedy. However, stronger gun laws can reduce the potential for tragedy by legislating responsible behaviors for firearm acquisition and possession.
A belief system that counters the empirical evidence of overwhelming numbers of gun deaths and injuries must be addressed.
Sincerely,
Christina Schlitt and Paula Bowman, Co-Presidents
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