Hijacking the usual summary – act accordingly.
Y’know I can comprehend (but not sympathize) why Texans are like that. Living up to all that Texas-Ranger-Alamo-Davy-Crockett-John-Wayne thang, playing cowboys for the better part of the last century, all that gun-totin’ and shootin’-iron stuff is part of their, for lack of a better term, culture.
But, really, how does that play into Michigan culture?
The state Senate just passed two bills that would — get this — ban open carry firearms in polling places and surrounding areas, including temporary early-voting sites. These two bills now have to pass in the state House before our beloved Gov Whitmer may sign them into Michigan law with her mightier-than-the-sword fountain pen. Apparently, these proposed bills may meet some GOP resistance.
What I want to know is, and I’m asking the as-of-today 256 subscribed members and also non-subscribed visitors of this community, the answer to one thing…
Why would anybody ever realistically need a firearm in a voting booth?
Is the hunting good? Are there bats or owls in the rafters? Is Frank Miller in town? No, not that coincidentally-named Frank Miller, the emotionally-stunted adolescent-fiction writer/illustrator. Maybe you heard there’s gonna be skeet afterward? Maybe just to be “prepared for anything”? Or you’re just paranoid.
All snark aside, someone has got to explain this to me and/or why the state House of Representatives would ever try to block a no-brainer set of bills from passing.
Something something good guy with a gun?
Seriously, though, is it possible that the culture in Michigan is more diverse than you think? The State House represents more than just Metro Detroit: the West side, the rural towns and the UP have their own distinct cultures, which may idolize guns or at least the image of a guy with guns.
Judging by your response, I’d say you are outside the metroDetroit™ area. As far as your accusation of my underestimation of Michigan “culture”, are you saying, like the cited Texans and their baggage, Michigan’s colonial fur trade is the root of all of our musket carrying? I certainly do like my Battle Creek-born Corn Flakes and my Kalamazoo-born Les Paul.
Regardless of “distinct cultures,” I don’t see how any rational being could consider carrying a weapon outside of certain conditions justifiable, cited example being one where there is absolutely no reason to carry, even to the parking lot. Am I missing something here?
Edit: syntactical error.
No accusations here, friend. I’m in the Metro area, and I thoroughly despise the gun culture in this country. But for whatever reason, there is a gun culture, especially in rural areas, in Michigan and across the whole US. I don’t think it has a basis in logic or rational thinking, but in cultural heritage and “freedom”. But we who emphasize gun safety and limitations need to understand how they think if we’re to make real progress.
I think Jordan Klepper had a good video on YouTube about guns in his native Kalamazoo that’s worth watching.