Posted on 03/04/2012 6:38:52 AM PST by marktwain
GRAND RAPIDS — Nicholas Looman said he was not surprised the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office found he complied with state law while carrying a gun into an elementary school voting precinct this week.
He’s disheartened with what he sees as a lack of understanding with open-carry gun laws and has hired an attorney to “explore the possibility” of a lawsuit against local law enforcement authorities.
Looman questions whether being “detained” in an office at Aberdeen Elementary School on voting day violated his personal rights. He is upset with how the whole situation was handled.
"The prosecutor went out of his way to say I was being disingenuous or naive to be frustrated with police," Looman said of a statement released Friday afternoon. “The law is already on my side, all we have now is to make the public more aware of the laws."
In his written opinion, Prosecutor William Forsyth said Looman legally carried his pistol when he went to vote with the gun holstered in plain view at his waist. But he used “extremely poor judgement” in bringing the gun days after a school shooting in Ohio, Forsyth said.
“Did he really believe that by carrying a gun into an elementary school that no one would notice and that no one would react?”
Through a series of conflicting state laws and exceptions to laws, a person who is licensed to carry a concealed pistol can legally carry that weapon into a school, as long as it is visible.
Nicholas Looman Nicholas Looman Nicholas Looman comments about legally carrying a pistol. Watch video
The state’s “weapons-free school zone” law does not apply to a concealed weapons permit holder, but at the same time, a person with a permit may not carry a hidden weapon into a school, Forsyth said.
School officials are required by a state School Safety Response Guide to contact local law enforcement whenever a person with a gun enters a school building.
Grand Rapids Public Schools Spokesman John Helmholdt said he believes elementary staff acted correctly when contacting the Grand Rapids Police Department out of concern for students' safety. Forsyth said officers kept Looman in a school office only long enough to determine that he carried a valid concealed pistol license.
For Looman, this week has been an interesting one as he’s received feedback from near and far. He said several state lawmakers have contacted him to acknowledge their support and to say they were aware of the situation.
As Looman walked into a Grand Rapids hardware store this week, he says he heard a “Hey aren’t you that guy…?” as a man recognized him from news reports.
But he also lost a job he was to start soon at a West Michigan engineering firm. Looman signed an offer letter for the position before he went to vote Tuesday. The company reportedly retracted the offer Wednesday after hearing of the open-carry situation.
“Bad PR,” Looman said he was told.
Helmholdt said school leaders want the state Legislature to look at changing the state’s open-carry law, for both student safety and to clear up what appear to be inconsistencies in goals about guns in schools.
“We’re saying that right now, there is a lot of confusion across the state,” he said. “We want to respect the second amendment, but if we want anyplace to be weapons-free, it’s a school.”
>3. In or on property that is being used by a school for a school function
How would that interact with home-schoolers?
>So the criminals have the best chance at shooting as many students and teaching faculty as possible before the cops can make it there. Why else?
You forgot to add “, surround the building, and wait until the perp offs himself before entering the premises” between “there” and the period.
It’s a common typo, I know. ;)
Oops! I keep forgetting that tiny detail!
According to the MI Constitution:
Article I, Sec. 6.
Every person has a right to keep and bear arms for the defense of himself and the state.
Article 1, Sec. 2.
No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws; nor shall any person be denied the enjoyment of his civil or political rights or be discriminated against in the exercise thereof because of religion, race, color or national origin. The legislature shall implement this section by appropriate legislation.
So yes; according to their own State Constitution anyone who is a person has that right. Furthermore, the law cannot be "selectively applied."
And it wasn’t the school’s decision; that’s why they called the police.
It most assuredly was the school's decision.
Stubborn or Anti-authoritarian?
I'm actually diametrically opposed to your viewpoint; mostly from personal experience. In New Mexico we have a statute, NMSA 30-7-2.4 which, by its own definitions, makes it 'illegal' for a student to keep/own a firearm in on-campus housing. However, the state Constitution clearly prohibits such a law:
Article II, Sec. 6. [Right to bear arms.] No law shall abridge the right of the citizen to keep and bear arms for security and defense, for lawful hunting and recreational use and for other lawful purposes, but nothing herein shall be held to permit the carrying of concealed weapons. No municipality or county shall regulate, in any way, an incident of the right to keep and bear arms.For two or so semesters I inquired into the conflict and ALWAYS got a deflection: the AG said that he couldn't say anything regarding how laws are read and told me to talk to the State Representative, the Representative said to talk to the State Supreme Court, the State Supreme Court never answered the phone and there was no answering-machine only a recording to call the State Bar, the State Bar said "hire an attorney," I talked with the only civil-rights attorney they had listed and was promptly forgotten about.
And don't get me started on how the cities and counties blatantly violate the second sentence of Art II, Sec 6.
“We want to respect the first amendment, but if we want anyplace to be under rigorous control of what is published, or restrict what religions may be practiced, by Congress it’s a school.”
Fixed.
You’re quite right in all that. My main point was just for the guy to exercise a little common sense and don’t wear the gun into a school for the short time it takes to vote in a primary. In other words, for a few minutes.
But I understand that fanatics will argue to the death otherwise. However, your fanaticism doesn’t make you right in all cases. Fanatics at their extreme are usually just that - extremists.
Lone extremists are noisy but little else. Extremists with power yield your Hitlers, Stalins, Jim Jones, Obamas, etc.
“I would think it is directed to government schools since the government doesn’t dictate rules on home ground.”
Hahaha, except when it comes to instances where the city can make more tax revenue by taking your home and giving it to someone else.....or light bulbs and toilets and refrigerators and furnaces and AC units and the length of your grass and on and on and on and on...
(I know as a FReeper you knew this, but I just couldn’t resist.)
You sound like a good republican...in today’s DC.
Citizens with no criminal record should be able, at will, to carry, concealed or open, any firearm they please, hand gun or long gun, anywhere they please without let or hindrance by government authorities.
The real issue, is the Michigan senate and house should get off their rear ends and pass SB0058 and HB 4009, then the firearms could be concealed and everybody would be happy.
As for suing, according to the Michigan State Police in their legal update to Law enforcement officers in Michigan, his forth amendment rights were violated.
(see http://www.michigan.gov/documents/msp/MSP_Legal_Update_No._86_2_336854_7.pdf) (last two paragraphs) he was detained without probable cause that a crime was committed or being committed, merely on the possibility that.....
Following that logic, I would then have the same interaction with the police for walking my dog on school property, Would I not?
My dogs are required to be licensed as well....
Can’t be too careful!
In order to legally carry in the school, the guy needed to have a concealed weapons permit. So the school detained him long enough to determine that. And then they called the police as per the school’s rules.
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