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New survey finds Michiganders support gun permits and training

Peretz Partensky
/
https://flic.kr/p/qwZP5f

A new survey found that 84 percent of gun owners in Michigan support permit and training requirements for people carrying concealed weapons.

The study was released just one day after a packet of bills that would remove any permit or training requirements for concealed carry passed out of committee and into the house.

Emily Durbin is the chapter leader for Moms Demand Gun Sense. She said even the majority of gun owners don’t want permitting and training to go away for concealed weapons.

“If you talk to gun owners gun owners who are responsible take training and permitting seriously and they are surprised that lawmakers think this is a good idea.”

Durbin said only a small percentage of Michiganders support removing permit and training requirements.

“It’s a very loud and vocal minority but it’s definitely a minority, a very small proportion of people including a small proportion of gun owners in Michigan who agree with the gun lobby's efforts to open up gun carrying to whomever whenever with absolutely no protections. It definitely isn’t the will of a majority of Michiganders that we have this take place.”

Jason Gillman is with Michigan Open Carry, which supports the move to do away with permitting and training requirements. He disagreed that more Michiganders support permitting requirements.

“I would disagree with that because I certainly haven’t seen that except from basically the gun grabbers side of things.”

Gillman said he doesn’t see an outcry for gun control.

“Me personally I’ve never had someone go ‘oh this is awful, think of the children, how dare you carry a firearm openly.’ So to say that there is a big cry for gun control and more training and stuff like that I don’t think that’s true at all.”

Of the one thousand people polled, roughly 64 percent said they would be less likely to support a candidate if he or she supported legislation to repeal training and permitting.