by Amy Kerr Hardin
There’s a sad irony to this story — one that is surely lost on disgraced lawmakers, Cindy Gamrat and Todd Courser
It didn’t take long for Mi
chigan’s most patriotic lawmakers to pick up the battle flag of expelled lawmaker Cindy Gamrat. As Democracy Tree predicted back in August, Rep. Gary Glenn (R-98) has adopted Gamrat’s orphaned project — making concealed carry a right for all in Michigan, completely free of any form of registration.
Glenn’s not alone in this though. He’s co-sponsoring a package of bills, along with seven other star-spangled Republicans who apparently find gunz-everywhere a greater priority than potable drinking water and safe roads. After all, when the masses rise up in anger over Lansing’s relative inaction on basic infrastructure issues — they may well find 2nd Amendment solutions necessary. Very forward thinking of these lawmakers.
House Bills 5301-5304 would eliminate the requirement to obtain a permit to carry a concealed weapon in Michigan. However, co-sponsor Rep. Lee Chatfield (R-107) generously offers the disingenuous caveat that if an individual still wishes to obtain a permit, they are free to do so:
“This is common-sense legislation to give lawful gun owners another option for self-defense. People who desire a permit to carry a concealed weapon, perhaps because it is necessary to carry a concealed pistol in another state, could still take the necessary training and obtain a permit. A license to carry just would not be required in Michigan.”
The rationale behind the legislation is that tired old argument that since bad guys don’t need to get permits, why should good guys who only wish to protect themselves be required to do so?
Rep. Jim Townsend (D-26) took to social media, calling the legislation “absurd.”
To reap what one sows…
There’s a sad bit of irony to this story. Rep. Glenn’s fallen fellow Tea Party patriots, Cindy Gamrat and Todd Courser, were featured recently on ABC’s 20/20 — where concern over what “good guys” could do with guns in real life was a recurring theme.
The former representatives’ aides, Keith Allard and Ben Graham, expressed fear of their mutual boss, Courser. Allard advised Graham to secretly record conversations with the lawmaker, explaining to 20/20:
“This is a guy who has been showing increasingly unstable signs in terms of his anger. There’s a 20 percent chance he might act out violently towards himself or others. He keeps a loaded gun in his office.”
The ABC special ended with Gamrat sleeping in her freezing-cold car in a parking lot near her home as recently as a few weeks ago, fearing what her soon-to-be ex-husband would do to her. Presumably, there were weapons in the Gamrat household.
Watch the entire 20/20 episode HERE.
