CNN Newsroom: Rep. Julie Brixie (D-MI) Discusses About Gun Laws In Michigan

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

It does change. It really is a terrible violation of a place that's kind of a sanctuary and a place that, for so many, represents joy, and fun, and learning and the beginning and of what's to come. Kids go away to college and they get to their campus and a lot of times, it's kind of the first time they've been on their own, and you have the great, wide open world ahead of you and everything is a possibility. And an event like this is just so shattering of all of that and tragic, and unnecessary and uniquely American.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

So interestingly enough, we have gun free zones here in Michigan, but we have legislation that was so poorly written that if you own a concealed carry permit, you can open carry in those places. And Second Amendment rights have been a really bitter fight here in our state and we're just coming off of over a decade of Republican control in both the House and the Senate.

So this year is the first opportunity that we'll - have had to make meaningful change. We have - Democrats have a huge priority of this issue. It's wrong that our kids are going to school in a place that should be a safe haven and a sanctuary and they're having to learn how to barricade themselves from active shooters while they're learning fractions and long division. It's not acceptable that we have been tolerating this as a state and a nation and we will ...

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Enact ...

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Right. Yes, the very first things are extreme risk protection laws, where a family member or someone can report someone who's having some kind of a mental health crisis. It could be a domestic violence situation or it could be just an observation of a parent on their loved one that needs help. And these extreme risk protection orders are very helpful for all different kinds of gun violence, including suicide, which really takes a lot of lives in our nation.

The other thing that we need to do is we need to work on universal background checks. Our laws are only - and furthermore, our laws are only as good as what our neighboring states do, right?

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

So the safe storage, universal background checks and extreme risk protection orders are the three things that are kind of right away make very much common sense to implement.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

We have a lot more than that, that we're planning and working on and I'm confident that we're going to be taking further steps than that. But in this space, in this time in the last 48 hours, I've been focusing on helping the students and staff ...

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

... get mental health resources that they need.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source