I'm thinking of volunteering for this.
Grand Rapids Mayor George Hartwell is forming a new coalition to promote stricter gun control in the State of Michigan. See here:
http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/index.ssf/2013/01/grand_rapids_mayor_george_hear_17.html. Before you bash me for wanting more gun control, please read what my goals and intentions are.
My plan is to present to the Mayor, at the next city commission meeting, a serious proposal on items I think that we can work together on, and how I can help his group to achieve these items. The items I intend to list and describe, are items that I refer to as "low hanging fruit". Basically those items which may be acceptable to both sides and will hopefully not cause a big fight. As I will also be giving copies to the media, these items need to be serious and genuine.
I expect one of two things will happen. First, the Mayor will laugh in my face, thus showing him to be a rigid ideologue who is only interested in working with people that think like him. Second, he can accept my offer and allow me into the group. In this case I will be prepared to follow through with anything that I present. If this happens, I will attempt to work with the group to focus on these "low hanging" items as hopefully these will be items we can support. I should note that I fully expect the first possibility to happen, but this will not prevent me from offering up something serious in good faith.
I would really appreciate feedback on this. Tell me what you like, what you don't like, and what ideas you have. I'm separating everything into two groups. The stuff both sides may agree on and the stuff we would like to see.
Stuff for both sides:-Stricter punishment for those who use firearms in the commission of a felony. Once I get past the whole a crime is a crime no matter how you do it thing, I think keeping those that give firearms a bad name in prison longer can be a good thing.
-Properly define brandishing to one provided by AG Jennifer Granholm in AG opinion # 7101.
Stuff for us-Elimination of GFZ's and PFZ's. If not all, then some.
-Allow school employees to obtain training and carry in school. It's impossible to guarantee bad people will not gain access. Schools need a plan to respond to those who are able to get past the outer defenses.
I am a very strong supporter of gun rights and I think it would be best for this new coalition to focus on how to stop crime as opposed to how to limit rights. How do we go about doing that? Thanks for any help.