(Source: MIRS.news, Published 02/22/2023) Involved organizations are expecting committee hearings on Senate Democrats' 11-bill firearm violence prevention package, which would establish "Red Flag" statutes and safe storage mandates with related penalties, to begin Mar. 2.
"I think you can just imagine that there's obviously a lot of folks who are very interested, including survivors of gun violence, law enforcement, prosecutors, educators, faith leaders, medical providers . . . there's a lot of interest," said Sen. Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit), the chair of the Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee.
The Oakland County Democratic Party, the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan (made up of more than 70 religious congregations) and the social services and civil rights coalition Michigan United were preparing for Senate committee hearings on the bills to start Thursday.
However, due to Wednesday's ice storm warnings, groups are now looking at next week for the bills to progress.
Chang said bill sponsors have been working closely with groups like Everytown for Gun Safety, the New York-based nonprofit founded in collaboration with Mayors Against Illegal Guns and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America; the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
"We've also been working really closely with a number of different prosecutors and law enforcement groups, as well as just a wide array of people who have a lot of knowledge on the issue," Chang said to MIRS. "We are working really hard to make sure that the policies that we pass out of this committee are fully vetted and strong and will make the greatest impact."
In a separate interview, Co-Director Patrick Carter of the Institute for Firearm Injury Prevention at the University of Michigan told MIRS that universal background checks – when paired with permit-to-purchase licensing – and child access prevention laws have a good degree of solid evidence behind them.
"I would say extreme risk protection orders are such a new tool that we're still learning about them, but that they are appearing, at least in the initial data that we're seeing, to be a very powerful tool for preventing firearm injuries," Carter told MIRS.
According to a data presentation from the Conversation, a network of not-for-profit media outlets, states with enacted laws for risk protection orders experienced 11.25 firearm deaths per 100,000 residents on average in 2020. States without the statutes reportedly saw 17.5 firearm deaths per 100,000 residents on average in the same year.
A November 2016 study from the Yale School of Medicine, which examined data from 762 firearm removals conducted under Connecticut's "Red Flag" (that was enacted in 1999), concluded with researchers estimating that one suicide was averted for every 10 to 20 gun seizures, equating to between 38 and 76 between 1999 and 2013.
The study also reported 21 of the 762 gun-removal cases did end with the individual committing suicide after they regained eligibility to buy firearms or had their own guns returned by authorities.
Steve Dulan, an officer in the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners, has told members of the state's media circle that "Red Flag" laws don't work in other states and are really "a dumb idea."
For example, independent research by investigative reporter Jim Keirztner discovered that since 2020, Chicago has experienced 8,500 shootings and 1,800 deaths under the city's "Red Flag" law, which was utilized four times in the same time frame. The research provoked the question of whether residents did not know about the law or declined to use it.
However, Carter says the purpose of a "Red Flag" law is not about identifying somebody ahead of time, but is about observing a behavior that puts a person at increased risk and intervening in that moment to temporarily remove their guns for a period of time.
"And always, when these extreme risk protection orders have been put in place, there is the opportunity for a full hearing and there is the opportunity, after this immediate risk period has passed, for people's firearms to be returned to them," Carter said. "And for them to continue on with hopefully what will be legal safe ownership of that firearm."
Carter additionally described how the movement of the aforementioned bills will challenge legislators to think about how law enforcement colleagues will be impacted.
"If we pass a law that isn't implemented in the way that is most effective and (provides) the training that we need, then we potentially don't have either the effect we want . . . or do we have some unintended consequences of those laws?" Carter said.
Carter also said while policy is one part of a solution to reducing firearm injuries, "it's not the only part."
"We (also have to think) about the programs that we implement across communities, the ways that we work with firearm owners to address issues of suicide risk and safe storage…those are all really key components, and so it's good if we take a multi-pronged holistic approach to addressing this problem," he said. "That again, recognizes that most people own firearms in legal ways and operate them legally."
The "extreme risk protection order act" would be established under SB 83, SB 84, SB 85
and SB 86.
The "Red Flag" legislation would authorize family members, romantic partners, law enforcement officials, mental health professionals and other qualifying contacts to petition for a restraining order that would result in an individual being barred from possessing or buying firearms for a period of time approved by the courts and backed by the preponderance of evidence.
The bills permit a restraining order to be revoked or altered by the courts, and provide for hearings to take place.
SB 79, SB 80, SB 81 and SB 82 create the safe storage instructions. In a serious case where a gun owner fails to appropriately secure a firearm, and it is acquired by a minor who they should have known had intentions to cause harm, the owner would be penalized with a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison, a fine of up to $7,500 or both if death occurs.
SB 76, SB 77 and SB 78 additionally aim to eliminate wiggle room amid firearm sales by mandating individuals purchasing guns from private and non-federally licensed dealers be subjected to background checks.
