LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Republicans blocked a Democratic attempt Wednesday to bring a set of bills to impose new storage standards for firearms up for votes in the state Senate, a day after a gunman killed 21 people at a Texas elementary school.
Democrats successfully made a procedural move, discharging the proposals from committee in order to set up action before the full Senate. However, Republicans who control the chamber quickly voted to send the bills back to the Government Operations Committee.
"This is an urgent situation we are facing," Sen. Rosemary Bayer, D-Beverly Hills, said in a speech on the Senate floor. "We have been talking to you about this for years, over and over again. This is urgent now because again we did nothing after the Oxford shootings. We did nothing after the Buffalo shootings. Now, we don't want to do anything today.
