GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Community leaders gathered on Monday at Grand Rapids' Paul I. Phillips Boys & Girls Club to lay out new gun laws set to take effect Tuesday.
"I think, again, that this is a message of optimism today," Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks (D-Grand Rapids) said. "This is a moment that we should be celebrating the progress that we've been able to make, and again, refocusing on what could come next to make our communities safer."
Among the laws that will take effect Tuesday will be those instituting universal background checks for all gun purchases, mandatory unloading and locking of firearms in homes where children can be reasonably expected and extreme risk protection orders to keep those deemed by a court to be a danger to themselves or others from owning firearms.
Among those who spoke was Grand Rapids Police Chief Eric Winstrom, who pointed to how gun violence has affected his community when outlining how he believes some of the new legislation could change things going forward.
"In May of 2022, we lost a 13-year-old because someone failed to secure a handgun in Grand Rapids," Winstrom said. "In September of last year, we had a 2-year old and fire that hand gun. Thankfully, no one was killed. But, such a simple thing to put a trigger lock or a fire lock on a gun."
Grand Rapids has found itself impacted by gun dangers throughout the last year, after the mass shooting on the campus of Michigan State University in February 2023 supercharged calls for legislative action. This has included multiple instances of students bringing guns to school at places like Godfrey-Lee Public Schools, where a gun was found in a student's backpack late last year.
"This, hopefully, will be a game changer - not just for schools, but for our community," Godfrey-Lee Superintendent Dr. Arnetta Thompson said. "Anytime that we can help prevent students, kids, anybody that shouldn't have their hands on guns, I think it's a good thing. And, I think this is one of the simplest ways that we can help prevent that by having properly-stored firearms."
Resources are available to help people comply with the new laws. Some local neighborhood associations and police departments like Grand Rapids have gun locks free for community members.
You can always reach out to the Helen DeVos Injury Prevention Team if you're in need of a gun lock.
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