Extreme risk protection order legislation can prevent gun suicide

Sonya Lewis, MD, MPH

Critical bills that could help stem the alarming rise in Michigan’s suicide rate were recently introduced to the Michigan Legislature. Enactment of Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) legislation, packaged as H.B. 4283 -4285 (referred to the House Judiciary Committee) and S.B. 156 -158 (referred to the Senate Government Operations Committee), would allow law enforcement and concerned family members to ask a judge to temporarily prohibit individuals known to be at risk of harming themselves or others from purchasing or possessing guns. ERPO type bills are also commonly known as Red Flag laws or Gun Violence Restraining Orders.

 Tragically, Michigan’s overall suicide rate has paralleled national trends, increasing 33% between 1999 and 2016. Firearms are the most common method of completed suicide in the United States. Suicide frequently occurs in moments of intense despair, often with very little time passing between impulse and action. Self inflicted gunshot wounds are lethal in approximately 85% of cases . When a distraught person has easy access to a loaded gun, the results can be catastrophic. However, many individuals exhibit risk factors and warning signs prior to engaging in acts of self harm, thereby creating opportunities for intervention. ERPO legislation can protect those in crisis by preventing access to deadly firearms.

 Research has demonstrated that ERPO style laws are effective. A 2016 study evaluating Connecticut’s law estimated that one suicide was prevented for every ten to twenty risk warrants served. ERPO bills are also popular. 70% of Michigan voters surveyed in a 2018 EPIC-MRA poll stated they held favorable opinions of ERPO legislation. Following last year’s mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, nine states passed ERPO legislation , bringing the total number of states enacting these laws to 14. Of note, ERPO bills have attracted bipartisan support.

 Please contact your Michigan representatives and senators as well as members of the House Judiciary and Senate Government Operations Committees to demand that H.B. 4283-4285 and S.B. 156-158 be brought to a full vote in the Michigan Legislature. Suicide is a public health crisis in our state and across the nation. ERPO legislation can save lives. We must act now.

  If you or someone close to you is in crisis, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.

'Just Look' at what Michiganders are capable of

by Alexa Cooley

Katie Fahey, the founder and Executive Director of Voters Not Politicians, spoke before an enthusiastic audience at the PEG Speaker Series on Sunday. In 2018, Michigan voters and Voters Not Politicians made history by passing a redistricting reform amendment with 61% of the vote to end gerrymandering. Katie shared with us the struggles and triumphs that come with the building of a grassroots movement. Reaching the large number of voters that they needed to get the Constitutional amendment on the ballot in Michigan was a huge challenge. Their efforts involved recruiting thousands of volunteers across the state to go door-to-door and holding town halls in their own communities. They held VNP town halls anywhere they could manage, and ended up holding a town hall in every single county in Michigan!

This talk taught us that no idea is too big to tackle and that every person has something to offer you, whether it is volunteering an hour a week or using their obscure hobby as a woodcrafter to craft hundreds of specialized clipboards for your volunteers (a real story from Katie!). The most unlikely people can be your saving grace, especially when the odds are stacked against you. Katie and VNP valued the voices of the citizens of Michigan, Democrat or Republican, who believed that “Voters should choose politicians, not the other way around.” VNP has inspired Americans all over the country to take action on gerrymandering in their state, and it all started with a simple Facebook post, which has transformed into an extremely successful movement. Katie has certainly inspired us too. Couldn't make it on Sunday? Check out the video below and pictures on our website! Want to get involved? Come to one of the upcoming town halls!

Voters Not Politicians Democracy Reform Town Halls

Join Voters Not Politicians at a Democracy Reform Town Hall to learn more about Michigan’s new redistricting process and how you can participate. The group will also discuss other critical democracy reform issues to strengthen the democratic process through citizen action.

Michigan Resistance Calling Parties

This week we will urge MI State Representatives to t ell Michigan State Legislatures to stop putting children in prisons. Hosts are needed for calling parties. Monday evenings and Tuesday afternoons. Contact Ginger Kinney at lakeshoregk@gmail.com .

Saturday, March 23. Meet with State Representative Yousef Rabhi

RoosRoast, 1155 Roseland St, Ann Arbor. 10am–Noon

Saturday, March 23. Ann Arbor Indivisible Meeting

They are focused on helping to implement Prop 2, and passing the Green New Deal as a prelude to Dumping Trump in 2020! Meet great people, over fine chocolate to ease the pain. Great Oak Cohousing Common Building, 500 Little Lake Dr, Ann Arbor . 3–4:30 pm

Monday, March 25. Eastern Washtenaw County Dems Mtg

418 W Michigan Ave, Ypsilanti . 6:30–8:30 pm

Tuesday, March 26. Planned Parenthood Activist Leadership Council Meeting

Come influence what Planned Parenthood Activism looks like in the Ann Arbor/Ypsi area! Food is provided. Ann Arbor Health Center, 3100 Professional Drive, Ann Arbor . 6:15–7:45 pm

Tuesday, March 26. Moms Demand Action – Washtenaw County Member Meeting

See what they are doing in Michigan for gun violence prevention. This month they will see the updated “Be SMART for Kids” presentation and get trained for next month’s Advocacy Day in Lansing. F or more information and to RSVP, click here . First United Methodist Church , 209 Washtenaw Rd, Ypsilanti . 7–8:30 pm

Wednesday, March 27. What Michigan residents really care about

Alexandra Schmidt, Public Engagement Director of The Center for Michigan The Center, founded by Michigan Regent Phil Power, will be presenting. The Center works to identify citizen priorities for the state legislature and amplify resident voices straight to Lansing.

 Alexandra Schmidt focuses on discerning how state policy impacts residents’ daily lives and amplifying those experiences to achieve stronger public discourse. She worked with HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, the Big 10 Network, TBS, and Comedy Central. $10 fee to attend. OLLI membership NOT required to attend the event. Kellogg Eye Center Auditorium, 1000 Wall St, Ann Arbor. 7–8:30 pm

Thursday, March 28. Washtenaw Community College Climate Summit

The Summit will help you get the facts about the problem and potential mitigation strategies. It will take place in three different sessions.The afternoon and evening sessions are open to the public. The afternoon session will take place from 12:30–1:55 pm in the MLB Towsley Auditorium and will focus on the problems of climate change and will include mitigation efforts at the city level. It will also include Native American viewpoints on sustainability. The evening session will take place from 5:30–7:30 pm in the MLB Towsley Auditorium and will focus on the problems of climate change and how city peer-to-peer learning networks and university/city partnerships are fostering innovation in climate mitigation and adaptation. Climate change activism will also be discussed. 4800 E Huron River Dr, Ann Arbor.

Thursday, March 28. Taylor Democratic Club Monthly Mtg

23400 Wick Rd, Taylor . 8–9 pm

Help unaccompanied children get a bit of justice

A new senate bill, named Fair Day in Court for Kids Act ( S. 662 ), was introduced last week by Senator Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and 20 other senators. The AAP -supported bill would ensure that no unaccompanied child is forced to represent herself in immigration court, requiring that they are provided with legal counsel at the government's expense and no cost to the child. Roughly 50% of unaccompanied children have no one to represent them in immigration court even though children seeking asylum in the U.S. are five times more likely to succeed when represented by counsel. Please ask your senator to co-sponsor and support this bill!

Tell Congress to put Net Neutrality back on the agenda

Congress has introduced the Save the Internet Act of 2019 to bring back the Obama-era rules preventing service providers from manipulating the speed and content of what consumers can see. These rules were repealed by the FCC in 2017. The FCC’s repeal of Net neutrality was overruled by the Senate under the Congressional Review Act, but the House of Representatives did not take up the issue. Let’s remind our MoCs that at the time of the FCC repeal, 83% of Americans including 75% of Republicans supported net neutrality rules Find more information and talking points here .  

Send letters to Democratic-leaning Wisconsin voters to urge them to vote

Sign up here. There’s a special election on April 2, 2019, in Wisconsin for a seat on the state’s Supreme Court. Let’s help Lisa Neubauer, who is currently Chief Justice of the Wisconsin Court of Appeals, defeat Brian Hagedorn, former chief legal counsel to Wisconsin’s infamous Republican Governor Scott Walker, and start shifting the Wisconsin Supreme Court in a more progressive direction. More info here. - Vote Forward

The College Admissions Process: The Most Tilted Playing Field in America

The recent college admissions scandal reported at length in the New York Times in which wealthy parents spent millions of dollars, bribing college consultants to falsify test scores for their children and athletic coaches to accept them for college teams (even if they’d never played that sport) dramatizes the extreme inequities in the college admission process.

Although the college admission process has always been tilted towards wealthy parents who can afford to give hefty donations, news of the recent scandal comes at a time when college tuition is increasingly becoming a lifetime burden on the many students who must assume huge educational loans. According to CNN , “The US had more student loan debt than credit card debt in 2017, more than $1 trillion.” And yet, students who don’t go to college are denied an important avenue to social mobility, earning a little more than half what degreed students do.

Many of the Democratic presidential candidates have formulated plans to make college for more students. As senator, presidential candidate Bernie Sanders introduced a bill that would give all Americans access to free college. Cory Booker has suggested giving every American child a nest egg at birth, Elizabeth Warren advocates new taxes on the wealthy; Kamala Harris wants tax cuts on the middle class. Clearly, leveling such a profoundly unequal playing field is a difficult and mounting problem that merits attention by legislators.

Supreme Court ruled against immigrants in Preap v. Nielsen detention case

By Bette Cotzin

In a 5-4 decision this week, the Supreme Court ruled against a group of immigrants - who were mostly green card holders – in a case about the government’s power to detain them after they’ve committed a crime but finished their sentences. According to immigration law, the government should hold those who were released in custody until the immigration court decides whether they should be deported. The immigrants argued that they should be entitled to a hearing within a day of being released as to whether they should be held in custody. According to NBC News , “ The court's conservative justices sided with the Trump administration, which argued as the Obama administration did, against hearings for those convicted of crimes and affected by the law.” According to Vox News , mandatory detention without bond is legal. The question is whether it applies years after the crime. Vox continues that “legally, the Court’s decision was a question of grammar: If the government was supposed to pick up mandatory detainees “when they are released,” but did not, would they still count as mandatory detainees? The conservative majority said yes, they would. Just as they did in the 2018 mandatory-detention ruling, the conservatives made a point of saying they weren’t considering whether or not the statute was constitutional because that wasn’t directly being challenged in this case.” The liberal members of the court are concerned that thousands of people with roots in the US might be whisked away by ICE for months or years with no court hearing.

White people have 17 percent less...air pollution

Just as there is wealth inequality in the U.S., there is also pollution inequality. According to a new study in PNAS, white people experience 17 percent less air pollution than they produce through their consumption. Black and Hispanic people, however, experience about 56 and 63 percent more than they produce, respectively. [ NPR ]

More Americans are being stopped for questioning at the southern border

An MSNBC report on March 17 illuminates targeting of Americans at the border. These include lawyers and advocates for immigrant rights. Watch the video here . 

California’s Moratorium on the Death Penalty: A Bellwether for the Rest of

the Nation?

by Ellen K. Halter

In their article in the Atlantic , Carol S. Steiker and Jordan M. Steiker are optimistic about the staying power of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s moratorium on the death penalty. Although the California Supreme Court had outlawed the death penalty in 1972, calling it a cruel and unusual punishment, it was reinstated a year later.

In the intervening years, many states have tried to regulate the death penalty, to make its practice more equitable, to purge it of racial discrimination and wrongful convictions. These state efforts simply haven’t worked. In addition, as the only western developed country to retain the death penalty, the United States is castigated for a practice now considered barbaric by most of the world. As the Steikers put it, “American capital punishment [is] more costly from a diplomatic perspective today than it was in the early 1970s, increasing the benefits of abolition and further reducing the likelihood of backlash.”

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Thanks to Newsletter contributors: Roger Rayle , Bernie Banet, Leslie McGraw, Jim Morgenstern, Ellen K. Halter, Sonya Lewis, Bette Cotzin, Alexa Cooley, Susan Ayer, and Chuck Newman for their help preparing this newsletter. Write us at info@equalityingov.org if you would like help create our weekly newsletter. It’s fun and no ongoing commitment is required.

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