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Council holds off on plan to ban guns from public
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Council holds off on plan to ban guns from public buildings
July 26, 2002
BY ERIK LORDS
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
A proposed city ordinance that would require Detroit public buildings, including recreation centers and libraries, to bar concealed weapons was tabled by the City Council Thursday.
The move led at least one member, Sharon McPhail, to question whether child safety is a high priority with the city.
McPhail tried to get the proposal approved at council's session Thursday, even though the city's Law Department hasn't approved the wording.
Councilwomen Kay Everett and Sheila Cockrel said they needed more time to consider it because some of the language had been changed.
The issue was tabled until next Wednesday, and because no action was taken, a final vote can't occur before September, when the council returns from its August recess.
"It was clear to me that several members were going to vote against it," McPhail said. Council members "had the ordinance for 40 days and the city's Law Department had it for 40 days. Clearly, they had no reason to vote against it. This is an ordinance that protects children and should have been introduced."
Everett disagreed. "What is the purpose of putting this out there if there is no legal mechanism for enforcement?" she asked. "The Police Department has to be apprised. Their input is very important, and they have not signed off on this at all."
Said Cockrel: "It was indicated that there had been some changes in the language, and I wanted to weigh and evaluate it, and have the legal people on my staff weigh and evaluate it."
The state's concealed weapons law makes it illegal to bring a gun into schools, but notpublic libraries.
Last year, Ferndale's City Council adopted an ordinance similar to the one proposed for Detroit. It was challenged in Oakland County Circuit Court by the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners,a lobbying group based in Lansing. The court upheld the ordinance in June. That ruling was appealed but stands unless a higher court reverses it.
"For now, Ferndale's kids get protected, ours don't. It's that simple," McPhail said. "There's absolutely no reason I can think of that anyone would not want to make the city's public buildings safer."
Everett said there is more to the issue of gun safety.
"The overriding issue is getting the guns out of hands of children in their homes, not in public places," she said. "I'm concerned about kids who are in their beds getting killed."
http://www.freep.com/news/locway/wguns26_20020726.htmContact ERIK LORDS at 313-222-6513 or lords@freepress.com.
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878
July 26, 2002
BY ERIK LORDS
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
A proposed city ordinance that would require Detroit public buildings, including recreation centers and libraries, to bar concealed weapons was tabled by the City Council Thursday.
The move led at least one member, Sharon McPhail, to question whether child safety is a high priority with the city.
McPhail tried to get the proposal approved at council's session Thursday, even though the city's Law Department hasn't approved the wording.
Councilwomen Kay Everett and Sheila Cockrel said they needed more time to consider it because some of the language had been changed.
The issue was tabled until next Wednesday, and because no action was taken, a final vote can't occur before September, when the council returns from its August recess.
"It was clear to me that several members were going to vote against it," McPhail said. Council members "had the ordinance for 40 days and the city's Law Department had it for 40 days. Clearly, they had no reason to vote against it. This is an ordinance that protects children and should have been introduced."
Everett disagreed. "What is the purpose of putting this out there if there is no legal mechanism for enforcement?" she asked. "The Police Department has to be apprised. Their input is very important, and they have not signed off on this at all."
Said Cockrel: "It was indicated that there had been some changes in the language, and I wanted to weigh and evaluate it, and have the legal people on my staff weigh and evaluate it."
The state's concealed weapons law makes it illegal to bring a gun into schools, but notpublic libraries.
Last year, Ferndale's City Council adopted an ordinance similar to the one proposed for Detroit. It was challenged in Oakland County Circuit Court by the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners,a lobbying group based in Lansing. The court upheld the ordinance in June. That ruling was appealed but stands unless a higher court reverses it.
"For now, Ferndale's kids get protected, ours don't. It's that simple," McPhail said. "There's absolutely no reason I can think of that anyone would not want to make the city's public buildings safer."
Everett said there is more to the issue of gun safety.
"The overriding issue is getting the guns out of hands of children in their homes, not in public places," she said. "I'm concerned about kids who are in their beds getting killed."
http://www.freep.com/news/locway/wguns26_20020726.htmContact ERIK LORDS at 313-222-6513 or lords@freepress.com.
"If cowardly and dishonorable men sometimes shoot unarmed men with army pistols or guns, the evil must be prevented by the penitentiary and gallows, and not by a general deprivation of a constitutional privilege." - Arkansas Supreme Court, 1878