Submitted on: March 7, 2001

Lies the anti-gun extremists tell in their crusade to confuse the voters of Michigan:

"This issue should be decided by the people"

It was. By 110 elected representatives and 38 elected senators, all of whom were sent to Lansing to pass laws and reflect the will of their respective districts. People who claim that we need to all vote on this should be asked if they believe that we should all vote on everything and just send the legislature home.

"The legislature passed this in a sneaky late-night session."

This is totally false. The legislature studied this issue for over six years and held countless public hearings at the capitol and town hall meetings across the state. Everyone was given notice of these gatherings and invited to attend and present testimony, even the anti-gun extremists, who were usually present. The gun-haters brought out all their arguments about how a fair CCW law for Michigan citizens would lead to more gun violence. However the legislature demanded proof and the anti-gunners couldn't provide any. Evidence brought out in these hearings always showed just the opposite: Every state that passed a similar law experienced no increase in crime and very often had a marked decrease in certain types of violent street crime. In short, even though the facts supported CCW overwhelmingly, the anti-gunners had every possible opportunity to prove otherwise and they were unable to do so. They had every chance. This issue was thoroughly debated for years. Nothing was done outside the public eye and no one was "surprised" because the legislature made it very clear for a long time that this issue would be finalized before the end of the legislative session.

"The legislature was bought off by special interests"

Another false claim. The legislature listened to the constituents who came to the hearings and town hall meetings. Both Republicans and Democrats voted accordingly and it passed with bipartisan support. The demand for this bill came from Michigan citizens, not outside interests. Michigan has 500 Sportsman's clubs whose members wanted this. MUCC has over 20,000 members. MCRGO has over 10,000. Even the NRA represents more than 200,000 Michigan citizens. These are the people that wanted this bill to pass and these people work, pay taxes and vote in Michigan. By contrast, the anti-gun faction has no Michigan membership base other than a small front group which is funded and directed by groups based in Washington D.C., Chicago, and California. While MCRGO received no funding from out of state, Michigan Partnership to Prevent Gun Violence received $375,000 from the Joyce Foundation of Illinois in 2000 alone. Neither MPPGV nor the Million Mom group hold local member meetings or attempt to recruit local members. Real grass-roots groups actively solicit members. These groups don't because they aren't grass-roots at all...they're just fronts for the national gun-hating groups.

"There will be 200,000 more guns carried on the streets."

What they don't tell you is that that 200,000 people will be spread out all over the state, equating to about 2% of the population. By comparison, there are over 1,000,000 people with guns in the woods on opening day of deer season. These people aren't trained or checked out at all compared with CCW holders, and the number of accidental shootings is miniscule. Michigan has almost ten million residents and 200,000 CCW holders interspersed among ten million won't even be noticed. The gun-haters try to make it sound like a lot, but really it isn't. That's just the sort of half-truth that anti-gunners frequently resort to in order to trick people into supporting them.

"People will be walking around with guns and we won't know who has one and who doesn't."

Criminals are walking around with concealed guns right now. All this law allows is honest citizens the right to have them . The criminals will have them whether we have this law or not.

So the next time you hear one of these false claims, use these facts to set the record straight.