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Democrats in Lansing try to find common ground on guns

Flickr User Rod Waddington
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In an interview with Politico, Governor Rick Snyder mentioned his own experiences with a school shooting while he went to the University of Michigan. The interview comes days after after a deadly school shooting in Florida. Snyder says he might be on board with so-called “red flag” legislation. It lets law enforcement and family members go through a procedure to ban a person from possessing a gun if they’re unstable.

 

Democrat Robert Wittenberg is the sponsor of “red flag” legislation in Michigan.

“If you wait too long, or you wait and you’re reactive instead of proactive, we’re just going to continue to lose lives.”

“I truly am willing to work with anyone that understands the importance and urgency of the extreme risk protection order legislation that I’ve introduced. And I’m definitely hopeful that my colleagues will follow our lead in addressing this pressing matter.”

Wittenberg says he’s trying to talk with Republicans about things they can agree on to prevent gun violence – like mental health.

“Because they’ll say it’s only mental health. It’s not only mental health. We need to work on both and we can. We can walk and chew gum at the same time.”

Governor Rick Snyder said he doesn’t think more guns are the answer. Snyder said it’s worth looking into legislation that lets people go through a procedure to stop a person from owning a gun if they’re unstable. A bill introduced by Wittenberg would do that.