Michigan gun owners – Your right to keep and bear arms will not be infringed!
There’s been increased talk lately in the national conversation of gun confiscation. We’ve heard candidates running for President declare that they absolutely plan to forcibly take certain firearms from American citizens. We’ve now seen governors threaten to use the National Guard to enforce new, unconstitutional gun measures. And more recently, a congressman said that any opposition to a national gun confiscation would be short lived because the federal government “has nukes.”
These statements have understandably made many Michigan residents nervous. But let me make something perfectly clear: no law will pass this term in Michigan that will infringe on your constitutional right to keep and bear arms. It won’t happen. I, along with my fellow House Republicans, won’t allow it. You can take that promise to the bank.
We do need to do all that we can to ensure our rights are protected and communities are kept safe. We can and should do both. Instead of always pointing fingers for political gain whenever there’s a shooting, we should all have realistic conversations about safety. Shootings occurred during President Obama’s presidency, and shootings have occurred during President Trump’s presidency – stabbings, too. But if we’re going to have a gun debate, let’s look at all the facts and not make decisions with blinders on or base our decisions on what we heard on TV.
For instance, did you know that homicides using a firearm have declined over the past 30 years? In fact, according to Pew Research Center, the violent crime rate in our country has fallen 51% from the year 1993 to 2018. What’s interesting about this is that 6 out of 10 Americans believe that violent crime has actually increased, simply because it gets more national attention nowadays. Murder in general has decreased, too. In 2017, there were 17,284 reported murders in America, with a firearm accounting for 7,032 of them. This is compared to 24,700 reported murders in 1991.
And while guns are certainly a part of the debate, I do not think that guns are the problem. If gun ownership was the sole problem, then Chicago would be a safer place to live than the Upper Peninsula. But it’s not. Even worse, Chicago has much stricter gun laws. Of course, no one has ever heard of a “no guns allowed” sign ever saving a life. This is because we need to focus on the individual pulling the trigger. We need to get these people the mental health services they need before they injure themselves or someone else and stop focusing on the law-abiding gun owners who only seek to defend themselves and their families.
Instead, we have big government officials who resort only to taking away freedoms that have been purposefully enshrined in our Constitution. It’s actually astonishing. What part of “Shall not be infringed” do politicians not understand?
Here’s the bottom line: I believe that our nation needs God. To quote John Adams, “Our Constitution was made only for a religious and moral people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” If we have a breakdown of our morals and ability to self-police ourselves, then our Constitution will no longer work for us. It’s built upon the concept of freedom and self-governance. While I believe government has a responsibility, the answers do not always lie in “making a new law.” The biggest change must come from within.
-Lee Chatfield, Speaker of the House
Taken from Speaker Chatfields Facebook page.
