(Source: MIRS.news, Published 02/14/23) Finding more money for community violence intervention (CVI) programs and lengthening waiting periods for firearm purchases are among the new policy proposals being suggested to reduce firearm violence in Michigan.
Lynna Kaucheck of the Campaign for a Safer Michigan, which is through the Progress Michigan media hub, told MIRS Tuesday there's "absolutely" more to the equation than the three policy proposals being discussed by the state's Democratic trifecta.
During her State of the State address, less than a month before Monday's fatal shootings occurred on Michigan State University's campus, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer highlighted "Red Flag" legislation installing a petition process for temporary gun removal, universal background checks and safe storage mandates as reforms she would like to sign into law for 2023.
Kaucheck described the aforementioned items as one of two different ways to address the issue of gun violence.
"There's 'common sense' gun violence prevention policies that we can pass, like the ones that you mentioned," Kaucheck said. "We also have to get to the root causes of why people commit violence in the first place."
She said adequate resources like expanded funding for public health and mental health services, as well as equal access to quality education, are all things to get to the root causes of why somebody has found themselves wanting to commit violence.
Already in Michigan, more than 43% of the enacted Fiscal Year 2023 budget was dedicated to health and human services. However, Kaucheck said she believes a missing aspect might consist of how much money the state is appropriating into CVIs.
"Community violence intervention programs, if they were adequately funded in Michigan, which they are not currently in Michigan, are designed to identify individuals that are at a higher risk of committing violence, and they provide a pathway to intervene and mitigate that risk," Kaucheck said.
When asked what the price tag would be for advancing CVIs in Michigan, Kaucheck said she would say the low end cost for a fully staffed in-office operation with a normal caseload would be between $800,000 and $1 million per site annually.
In the 2021-22 legislative term, more than 100 bills were officially introduced under the "weapons" category. Earlier, during the 2019-20 legislative term, 89 introduced bills were placed into the "weapons" category.
One series of legislation the then-minority Democrats introduced isn't being discussed presently. It's a four-bill package banning the possession and sale of gun magazines capable of holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition.
The package was last introduced by the legislative Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention Caucus in December 2021, following the fatal shooting at Oxford High School that resulted in the death of four students a month earlier.
However, attorney Steve Dulan of the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners (MCRGO) had told MIRS a magazine restriction would likely have no impact on a disturbed person's ability to kill large numbers of people.
Kaucheck agreed it was fair to say the aforementioned ban would likely be left behind.
"In the last session, I believe there were over 50 gun-related pieces of legislation introduced. Some of them prevention, some of them actually expanding access to firearms…so yes, there are things that will likely be introduced that won't go anywhere," she said. "It may be that there's just not the political will, it may be that there is just not enough support from the public around some of them yet."
Nicole Kessler of the Michigan Parent Alliance for Safe Schools, told MIRS her organization would like to see Michigan establish a waiting period for gun purchases.
According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), four states and Washington, D.C. have imposed waiting periods for all firearm purchases. The AAP relayed studies exhibiting states with such laws experienced 51% fewer firearm suicides and a 17% drop in gun homicides in contrast to states without them.
"I think we see time and time again that these shootings can occur when people who really shouldn't have had access to a gun had access to a gun," Kessler said. "I think there's just general frustration at the lack of movement with any kind of legislation on the federal or the state level."
