Michigan State Senator Wants to Eliminate Gun-Free Zones

This is somewhat dated news (coming to light right after the VT tragedy), but very interesting. I saw it first on the Michigan Coalition of Responsible Gun Owner's site.

State Senator Alan Cropsey (R-DeWitt), the man who led the legislative charge for our new Castle Doctrine protections, wants to eliminate gun-free zones (aka Criminal Empowerment Zones).

As highlighted in the Jackson Citizen-Patriot, Cropsey declares "It's time that the American people say the Second Amendment should apply everywhere."

Of course, Michigan's Bastion of Socialism, Ann Arbor, has a State Senator who disagrees. She was Ann Arbor's mayor when I briefly taught at the U of Michigan - and hasn't changed at all.

Sen. Liz Brater, D-Ann Arbor, says it is time Michigan and other states investigate ways to learn about an applicant's mental-health history when issuing gun permits.

"We need to revisit the whole system of background checks and make it much more thorough," Brater said. "It's just much too lax."

I'll skip the expected liberal response and focus on Senator Cropsey:

Cropsey is among gun advocates who say the nation's campuses should be deregulated to allow professors to carry concealed weapons, eliminating what he calls "victim zones" where gunless people are left defenseless.

One valid reason for more guns on campus, he said, is because there is no armed security at most private colleges.

pring Arbor University and Albion College both operate safety departments staffed by officers who are neither sworn nor armed. Both schools rely on local police to provide protection, officials said.

Cropsey pointed to one instance in last week's tragedy where a professor died trying to block a door so his students could escape Cho's rampage.

"How come that professor wasn't allowed to defend himself?" Cropsey said. "We need to say, 'Educators have the right to defend themselves. They have a right to defend their classrooms.' "

As an interesting side note, the Executive Director of the Michigan Psychiatric Society is against "mental health evaluations" for those who want to purchase a gun.

Kathleen Gross, executive director of the Michigan Psychiatric Society, said it would be difficult to regulate guns based on mental illness and ensure accuracy, fairness and that it "holds up to constitutional muster."

"We can't predict behavior. We can kind of evaluate who might benefit from treatment."