LANSING, MI (MPRN)-- Ideas are floating around Lansing about how to make the state’s schools safer from gun violence.
Several proposals are in the works. One idea from Republicans would let teachers and school staff have access to firearms in emergencies. The teacher would have to have special training and the weapons would be stored in a secure location.
Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof says he might be on board with this type of plan.
“At this point we could use any volunteers that would want to protect our kids as long as they are trained to a certain level,” he says.
Democrat Robert Wittenberg says the only people who should be armed in schools are uniformed, trained, police officers. He says the bill is reactive instead of proactive.
“You know we can’t predict everything, but we can do everything we can to try and to prevent these things from happening. So I want to have those discussions and not these kneejerk reactions just to arm teachers who don’t want to be armed in the first place,” he says.
Meekhof says he’s open to another plan Democrats have been trying to push through since June. It would let family members and law enforcement petition a court to take away firearms from people who pose a risk to themselves or others. Meekhof says he’s concerned about due process issues and would want to look carefully at such a bill.