People Who Care About Kids is on an empty clip. The group, which has led opposition to the months-old concealed weapons law, announced it is stopping a petition drive to place the issue on the 2002 ballot in an effort to overturn it.
The law requires county gun boards give CCW licenses to any adult who completes a gun-safety course and doesn’t have a criminal record or history of mental illness.
Previously, those who wanted to carry a concealed weapon had to show legitimate need to possess a firearm.
The group says it could collect the more than 250,000 signatures needed, but doesn’t have the money to run the large-scale campaign necessary to compete with gun-rights activists.
This is truly unfortunate to see. The CCW license law is something that is not useful to Michigan. It hurts common-sense gun control and does little more than make it infinitely easier for someone - anyone - to get his or her hands on a firearm.
The last thing Michigan needs is more guns on the street. When making weapons more available to the public, society needs to remember the chance of accidents and misuse of handguns increases.
And in the wake of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, we need to consider other dangers of having more people with guns. Anti-Muslim and anti-Arab sentiments have taken root around the country. Arab Americans have found themselves verbally harassed, mosques been broken into and one East Lansing family’s home was struck by a bullet.
And there is little we can do to prevent this.
With the ease guns can be obtained thanks to the CCW law, will there be more guns sold in response to the growing paranoia of U.S. citizens? It’s not a question we should have to ask, but unfortunately it’s now a necessary one.
The irony in this situation is that it’s violence in our country making it harder for groups such as People Who Care About Kids to overturn this law, as fund-raising efforts turn toward relief and reconstruction after the terrorist acts.
This effort is a victim of circumstance, overshadowed by the issue of terrorism.
It could be years before anything to counter the new law is done. Most people’s attention is focused on other issues. Unfortunately, it seems less important now to make sure there are fewer guns on our streets.
Advocates of gun control have not given up completely. For the time being, they have chosen to focus their attention on improving the accuracy of background checks, reducing illegal gun trafficking and electing lawmakers who are more sympathetic to their cause.
Until those measures take hold, people need to exercise caution and care when considering the purchase of a handgun. Despite recent events, there is not an increased need for a concealed weapon, and often it only endangers family and friends to purchase a gun just to simply own one.
Perhaps when the country’s atmosphere settles down, lawmakers can take time to look at things more objectively. Then maybe we’ll see legislation to bring the hammer down on this law.
In the meantime, as long as efforts are at least concentrated on reducing the impact of the CCW law as it stands, something is being done to improve everybody’s safety.
That’s a goal right on target.
