More fallout from the Sandy Hook shootings? Is this the beginning of a trend — or something that will (as in the other cases of mass gun murders) vanish?
The bill would have let concealed gun owners with additional permits carry their weapons in places where it was previously illegal to carry them such as places of worship, bars, schools, and stadiums.
In his veto letter to the state legislature Snyder said the legislation included a key loophole. The buildings in question, Snyder wrote, should be allowed to opt out of allowing concealed weapons.
I believe that it is important that these public institutions have clear legal authority to ban weapons from their premises,” Snyder wrote according to The Detroit Free Press. “Each is entrusted with the care of a vulnerable population and should have the authority to determine whether its mission would be enhanced by the addition of concealed weapons.”
On Monday, Snyder said he would give additional thought to signing the bill in response to a shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Twenty young children and six adults were killed during the massacre.
Prediction: The NRA will soon be back in form, resuming a public profile — and you’ll quickly see Fox News, conservative talk show hosts and some conservative bloggers pick up the NRA’s talking points that will be made in days to come. Second prediction: there won’t be any massive reform on this issue.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.