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Educators Reject Proposed Bill That Would Ban Open-Carry, Allow Concealed Guns In Michigan Schools

LANSING (WWJ) - The education community is not enamored with a proposed "compromise" on guns in Michigan schools.

While State Sen. Mike Green, R-Mayville, is drafting a bill that would ban open-carry in school buildings and other gun-free zones. However, the bill would allow people with concealed weapons permits and "more extensive training" to carry concealed guns.

Michigan school administrators are voting no.

"...We can't agree to that," said Chris Wigent, who represents administrators. "Schools are places for teaching and learning, not for weapons."

Currently, Michigan's public schools are included in the places you can carry your gun openly — but carrying a concealed weapon isn't allowed.

What's wrong with a concealed weapon, if no one by the carrier knows that it's there?

"I think that says it right there. That creates even bigger issues than if we know the weapon is there," Wigent said.

Wendy Zdeb-Roper, who speaks for the Michigan Association of Secondary School Principals, agrees, telling WWJ Lansing Bureau Chief Tim Skubick that weapons in schools are disruptive to the education process.

If the gun is concealed: "You might not know (it's there), but there's always those occasions where it might have been concealed in a bag, or something of that kind, and it's now all of a sudden on the floor, and you're putting the building in lockdown and causing incredible disruption on the campus."

The issue of guns in schools has been in flux in the state legislature for years. In December of 2013, Republican Gov. Rick Snyder in vetoed a similar bill sponsored by Green – passed hours before the Sandy Hook Elementary School attack – that would have allowed concealed weapons in gun-free zones and prohibited openly carried weapons. He said he wanted schools to be able to ban guns completely from their premises if they saw fit.

Green's bill is still in the early stages.

Meantime, Ann Arbor Public Schools is considering a plan to ban all guns — concealed or openly carried — from school grounds, drawing criticism from gun rights advocates.

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