Michigan Governor Rick Snyder: Veto SB 59! No guns in my children's schools!

The night before the school shooting in Connecticut, in a marathon late night session, lame duck Michigan legislature voted to allow concealed weapons at schools, daycares, churches, arenas, hospitals, etc.

Hours AFTER the shooting in Connecticut, Michigan Republicans won the prize for the "second-most awful remark on one of the worst days in American history, coming up behind Mike Huckabee’s" remark about God in schools. Regarding Thursday night's legislation to allow concealed weapons in schools, daycares, hospitals, arenas, etc., House Speaker Jase Bolger said that teachers shooting back might have meant “the difference between life and death for many innocent bystanders.”

My kids are remarkably blase about fire drills, tornado drills, lockdown drills. They've been prepped for everything. The coded PA announcement that triggers a lockdown is eerily benign. My daughter explains that they have two different kinds of lockdowns with two different protocols--one when there is an intruder inside the building and another when there is something wierd/dangerous going on in the neighborhood/outside the building. It is how unperturbed they are that strikes me.

Thanks to all our teachers. They don't pay you enough to have to deal with this, let alone to have to shoot back.

I remember when my children were small and I would not let them have playdates or sleepovers at homes that had guns. It was embarassing to ask, "Do you have guns in the house?" but I did. I made one relative get rid of the gun I knew he kept before we would come for a long visit. Curious small children. Careless adults. Deadly weapons. Not a combination I was interested in seeing together.

Now Michigan Republicans want me to send my children to schools full of concealed weapons?

Governor Rick Snyder: For goodness sake, veto SB 59! No guns in my children's schools!

The children and I are going to Sing along with Santa today. Every year, Little Brother asks Santa some pretty hard-hitting questions--what to do about bullies, how to handle his homework, does Santa like mochi, how does Santa get into houses without chimneys, etc. This year, I want to ask Santa one too. I can't imagine who else has the answer to this.


More from the Michigan Education Association: Michigan teachers union president urges governor to veto gun bill after Connecticut school shooting and from the American Federation of Teachers: AFT - A Union of Professionals - AFT Urges Michigan Gov. Snyder to Veto Gun-in-Schools Bill.

You can tell Michigan Governor Rick Snyder what you think about the gun bill here.

UPDATED 12/17/12 plus links.

Frances Kai-Hwa Wang is a second-generation Chinese American from California who now divides her time between Michigan and the Big Island of Hawaii. She is a contributor for New America Media Ethnoblog, Chicagoistheworld.org, PacificCitizen.org, and InCultureParent.com. She team-teaches Asian Pacific American History and the Law at the University of Michigan and University of Michigan Dearborn. She is a popular speaker on Asian Pacific American and multicultural issues. Check out her Web site at franceskaihwawang.com, her blogs at franceskaihwawang.blogspot.com and rememberingvincentchin.com, and she can be reached at fkwang888@gmail.com.