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Protestors Rally Against Relaxing Concealed Gun Restrictions

State Capitol - file photo
Melissa Benmark
/
WKAR

(MPRN-Lansing) A group of gun control advocates was at the state Capitol to lobby against a proposal to allow people to carry concealed weapons without a permit. 

About 75 members of the group Moms Demand Action showed up to urge lawmakers to reject a bill that would relax concealed gun rules. Right now, the state requires a clean criminal record and a safety course.

This new bill would allow anyone 21 years or older who’s not barred from owning a firearm to conceal a gun under their clothes or in a vehicle.

“Anybody could carry a concealed weapon in public, possibly without any training at all,”

says Kristen Moore.

“(The current system) is really just a common sense safety measure that people should become familiar on gun law, where it’s legal to carry, how to safely handle a gun. This is really just common sense.”

The bill’s Republican sponsor says the Second Amendment does not require training to carry a firearm.

“The only thing we have left is the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, when everything’s covered up with dust, and dirt, and soil,”

says state Representative Peter Lucido (R-Shelby Township).

“Give back to people what they had – a constitutional right to carry, without restrictions, without amendments.”

Michigan already allows people who are not legally barred from owning a gun to openly carry a firearm without training.

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