Are Livingston County’s residents all that different from Michigan’s general population?
I ask because I am trying to understand how Michigan residents can so overwhelmingly support gun safety reforms, yet Livingston County’s elected folks appear to be in favor of little to no regulation — heck, county officials are thumbing their noses at the proposed “red flag” laws that would enable a judge to order the temporary removal of firearms from anyone reported as being a menace to themselves or others.
This begs two questions: Are Livingston County residents outliers on the subject of gun safety regulation? Or are our local politicians that radical?
One thing for certain, judging from the last couple meetings of the Livingston County Board of Commissioners, is that we have an extraordinary number of Constitutional experts living here.
Last month, state Rep. Ann Bollin spoke on current legislation, with a focus on the Second Amendment, in an event in South Lyon sponsored by Huron Valley Guns/Molly Pitcher’s Cafe, a combo gun shop/bar in New Hudson. The Board of Commissioners passed a resolution declaring Livingston County a 2A Sanctuary County. Attorney and local GOP mover and shaker Kristina Lyke last week spoke about the “pending legislative attacks on the 2nd Amendment” in an event sponsored by the Livingston County Republican Party and 2A Patriot. And 2A Day, also sponsored by 2A Patriot, is set for May 20, featuring speakers, demos, gun sales, raffles, etc., and something being promoted as “kids shooting.”
These events might lead someone to believe that the Livingston County area is an outlier, populated by folks who believe guns should be both plentiful and unregulated.
But I am just not sure that’s so.
Yes, Livingston County has long been a Republican stronghold, but that’s been changing during the last couple election cycles: in the 2022 gubernatorial election, just 3 — or 18.75% — of Livingston County’s 16 townships voted solidly red. This county isn’t quite the big red machine it used to be, and with the recent coup in the Livingston County GOP, well, I predict we’ll be seeing more of a move toward blue.
Abortion — a major issue in the 2022 midterms — will be sharing the stage in the upcoming election with gun safety. And if I read the tea leaves as correctly as I did in 2022, voters will shout their desire for commonsense gun safety legislation in 2024. Will that shouting trickle down to the local level?
Partisan politics and tea-leaf reading aside, it’s interesting to see how little difference there is in how Michiganders view gun safety, be they Republicans, Democrats or Independents.
The current gun safety reform bills all receive “extraordinary bipartisan voter support” across Michigan, according to pollsters, and that support includes the red flag measure, which enables law enforcement to temporarily remove firearms from a person after they’ve been deemed a risk to themselves or others by a court.
It is the red flag legislation that has put Livingston County front and center as the poster child for those who will not enforce its provision. Sheriff Mike Murphy has been all over the news to explain that he feels the legislation is unconstitutional, and why his department won’t enforce the laws. And, judging from the recent calls to the public at the last couple meetings of the Livingston County Board of Commissioners, it appears he has a lot of company.
So, are those who oppose red flag laws in Livingston County the majority or a very loud minority?
I ask the question in all seriousness because in spite of what our county politicians may say and do, polling shows that 74.5% of Michigan voters support red flag laws, with 57.2% of Michigan voters STRONGLY supporting them.
Pollsters found that the strongest opposition comes from Republican voters, but 57.5% of them still support red flag laws overall.
So where do Livingston County residents fit it? Are voters here that different from those in the rest of the state?
The only demographic opposing a red flag law, according to pollsters, are those voters “who called themselves staunch supporters of the Second Amendment.” Do those people comprise the majority of Livingston County? The only thing I can say for certain is that they comprise the majority of those who lead our county and represent us in Lansing.
As I was writing this piece, karma delivered to me a fundraising email from state Sen. Lana Theis: “Danger can strike at any moment,” it began. “Now, more than ever it is essential that law-abiding citizens be prepared to protect themselves and their families. With crime and lawlessness on the rise, residents of Michigan should not have to ask permission to better defend themselves.” And then she asked for a donation.
I wrote two weeks ago about Theis being one of 9 senators who voted against removing an unenforced 1931 law from Michigan’s books, a law that made it illegal for unmarried people to live together and prohibited “any man or woman, married or unmarried, from engaging in open and gross lewdness and lascivious behavior.”
Just two states — Michigan and Mississippi — have such a law, which was written 11 years after women got the right to vote and 43 years before they could get a credit care in their own name.
Is Theis out of touch? Or does the majority of people in her district oppose unmarried people living together?
Consider these numbers from the GlenGariff polling done in March, just two weeks after the mass shooting at Michigan State University claimed the lives of three students and critically wounded five others; one of those injured, Hartland High School grad Nate Statly, remains hospitalized.
Takeaways from the polling on bipartisan support for gun safety legislation among Michigan voters include that:
87.8% support background checks
79.8% support safe storage law
74.5% support a red flag law
74.5% support a 14-day waiting period
61.7% support raising to 21 the age to purchase a firearm
79.2% support forfeiture of gun possession or ownership for anyone convicted of a gun-related crime
64.6% support support any person convicted of a domestic violence crime from ever owning or possessing a gun
55.1% support a ban on semi-automatic assault weapons
71.9% oppose making Michigan a Constitutional Carry state
Even more interesting is last week’s Fox News national poll that concluded:
87% support background checks for guns
81% support enforcing existing gun laws
81% support raising the legal age to buy a gun to 21
80% support requiring mental health checks on gun buyers
80% support red flag laws for those considered a danger to themselves or others
77% support requiring a 30-day waiting period for the purchase of firearms
61% support a ban on assault rifles
So, are Livingston County residents like those across the state (and the nation), or are they outliers?
And if they are like the majority of people across the state and nation, why aren’t their elected county and state officials?
