[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 88 (Friday, June 22, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S6660]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   QUESTIONS ON CONCEALED WEAPONS LAW

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, last Wednesday the Michigan Supreme Court 
heard oral arguments on whether or not the State should allow a new 
concealed weapon law to go into effect without being put before the 
voters in a referendum. I oppose the law because it would undermine the 
authority of local gun boards and explode the number of concealed 
weapons on Michigan's streets. As the Justices deliberate this issue, 
recent press reports have raised a number of disturbing questions about 
the law.
  For example, how will the corner drug store deal with a suspected 
shoplifter knowing that every person could be legally armed? Will 
emergency rooms and board rooms be filled with armed citizens? If so, 
what will that mean for public safety? Think about it. One Michigan 
employment expert perhaps described it best: ``How many times have 
people seen others react to situations or stress in the workplace, or 
react to a situation and think, if they had a gun?''
  A recent article from the Oakland Press in Michigan refers to a 
bumper sticker that says, ``An armed society is a polite society.'' 
While I am all for improving civility, I don't believe that arming our 
citizens is the best way to achieve it. And, I hope that I don't have 
the opportunity to be proven correct.

                          ____________________