This AM we ran a Quote Of The Day from a Milford High School Michigan teacher who was outraged about open carry on campus. Last night, the school board held a hearing. “It was a packed house at Milford High School Monday night as the Huron Valley [Michigan] school board invited an open discussion on Michigan’s open carry law and how the district should handle weapons on campus,” wxyz.com reports.[Click on link for video.] Excellent! A discussion on weapons handling on campus – the difference between cover and concealment, the importance of communication between armed defenders, etc. – is a great idea! Only you know that’s not what they discussed . . .
The issue recently came to a head when a father wore his gun to two of the district’s building after hours. While state law prohibits concealed firearms in public school buildings, anyone with a concealed pistol license can ‘open carry.
In fact, current school policy mandates a precautionary lockdown if anyone strolls in with a gat. So which one’s gonna go: the lockdown policy of Michiganders’ right to open carry on campus?
Gun rights advocates from across metro Detroit came out in force Monday to express their opinions during the public comment portion of the meeting. They want school district leaders to re-think their current emergency plan – to go into lockdown every time anyone brings a weapon on campus during school hours.
A written statement issued by Rebecca Walsh, Huron Valley school board president, states:
“Any visitor who brings a gun will be treated the same and the police will be summoned. This is essential because the District has no way to know who is violating the law and who first into the exception.”
Who first into the exception? Either that’s a misprint of Ms. Walsh should be focusing her mind on her own education rather than scaring the bejesus out of the entire school when a parent exercises their natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms on campus. In any case, Ms. Walsh should be denied permission to play the edumacator card. Ditto Ms. Masson.
Retired Huron Valley teacher Sherri Masson told board members, “After years of studying data on gun violence I’ve come to understand that the presence of firearms does not make us safer.”
Years, I tell you! Years! Years of study which somehow didn’t contemplate the simple truth of NRA Veep Wayne LaPierre’s post-Newtown pronouncement: the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. Would a gun in the hands of a defender make Ms. Masson’s alma mater safer in the case of an armed attack? Yes. Yes it would.
Needless to say, Huron Valley school board president Rebecca Walsh was unmoved by pro-gun remonstrations of common sense, logic and reason (“Many people likened the lockdown emergency plan to crying wolf, and pointed out that such false alarms can disrupt learning time”). Nor will the fact that there are some 1600 comments on the Click on Detroit Facebook page supporting open carry at Milford.
Rebecca Walsh said, “They brought up some interesting points we’re taking notes about what everybody is saying.”
Walsh said the administration will evaluate the district’s emergency plan and study whether it needs any amendments. She said the board expects to have a revised resolution by the end of the month.
Banning open carry on school district property, of course. Wait, can they do that? Not legally. But as the post-Newtown gun control surge tells us, where there’s ill will there’s a way. [h/t JS and unccomn_sense]