Gov. Snyder vetoes new gun legislation - ABC 12 – WJRT – Flint, MI

(12/18/12) - Gov. Rick Snyder has vetoed a controversial gun bill that would have allowed concealed guns in schools.

The new legislation would have allowed people with permits and extra training to carry concealed hand guns in schools, daycares, bars and sporting arenas.

The governor's main problem with the bill is it would not allow schools and daycares to opt out. If they didn't want to allow concealed weapons in their buildings, they wouldn't be able to change it.

Senator Mike Green from Tuscola County first introduced the bill 13 years ago.

The idea is to allow concealed guns in traditionally gun-free zones - with extra training.

But the Governor wants to give schools and others the choice to ban firearms if they want to.

Gov. Snyder says the tragedy in Connecticut has heightened the need to review this bill and be extra cautious. Green says people have the right to defend themselves.

"Isn't it a shame that somebody at that school in Connecticut didn't have a gun and couldn't stop this fella, this perpetrator, this evil mind from doing this atrocity to all this innocent kids and adults and I believe personally, and other people don't agree with me, but I believe there ought to be somebody somewhere in the school with a gun that could stop this," Green said.

Green says a bill like this could help prevent tragedies.

"But the fact is someone going in there, wanting to do harm like he did, and like other perpetrators have done, no one can stop them and yet we passed laws to stop innocent people from carrying so they can stop those evil people. By vetoing this legislation, we're giving evil people free rein in our schools to pretty much do whatever they want to do," he said.

Green also says concealed gun carriers in Michigan are some of the best trained in the country. He says they may re-introduce the bill after the first of the year.