Lawmakers in Lansing approved long-debated gun safety bills this week. The legislation included universal background checks for gun purchases and requires guns be locked in a safe place when they’re not in use. They’re bills that include policies that have wide support from Michigan voters.
However, as the bills were being approved at the Capitol, the Michigan Republican Party tweeted out a comparison of the legislation to the Holocaust.
The social media posts were quickly and widely condemned but Kristina Karamo, the new controversial chair of the Michigan Republican Party, held a press conference refusing to apologize, “we’re a different Republican Party. We are not the Republican Party who apologizes and runs away from opposition. It’s the reason why the Republican Party has gotten kicked in the teeth the last three cycles. Because it’s been a party that’s always apologizing.”
It has many asking: who does this ‘new’ Michigan Republican Party speak for?
Joining It’s Just Politics this week are Kaitlyn Buss, Assistant Editorial Page Editor at the Detroit News, Nancy Kaffer, Editorial Page Editor at the Detroit Free Press, and Rick Pluta, Senior Capitol Correspondent of the Michigan Public Radio Network and co-host of It’s Just Politics.
