22-04-2025
State task force releases gun violence recommendations
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A new list of recommendations from the Michigan Gun Violence Prevention Task Force suggests ways to reduce gun violence and gun-related deaths and injuries statewide.
The task force was created last year to find the root causes of gun violence, study the data, figure out how to efficiently use resources that already exist and recommend new policies to help combat gun violence. On Tuesday, it so far.
'Gun violence is the leading cause of death in children across the country and, as such, we must address it as a public health issue,' wrote Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, chief medical executive and chair of the task force, in a news release.
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The task force looked at all kinds of issues relating to firearms, including suicide, domestic and community violence, school safety, safe storage and background checks. It made recommendations for addressing each one.
Recommendations included developing funding and a workgroup to implement the strategies, improving access to safe storage options outside the home for families with someone in crisis and building a group to share ideas to support gun violence prevention leaders. The task force also set out to standardize the definition of a school resource officer with training and education, as well as to standardize the court processes, law enforcement and protocols surrounding Extreme Risk Protection Orders. Many of the recommendations explored how to implement existing legislation, especially related to the domestic violence firearm possession ban, safe firearm storage and background checks.
You can view the released by the Michigan Gun Violence Prevention Task force online.
Over the next six months, the task force along with its subcommittees and expert stakeholders will use the recommendations to make a plan of how to best put them into action, according to the state.
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