State Rep. Andrew Fink, along with State Sen. Joseph Bellino are pushing back against Michigan’s Democratic majority.  Courtesy | Facebook  

Republican state legislators are resisting efforts by the Democratic majorities in the Michigan House and Senate to pass bills aimed at guns, gender identity, and abortion.

For the first time in the last 40 years, Democrats control the entire state legislature. State Rep. Andrew Fink, R-Hillsdale, and state Sen. Joseph Bellino, R-Monroe, are pushing back.

With the Michigan State University shooting this year and the Oxford High School shooting last year, state Democrats have made restricting gun access a priority. Democrats penned an “11-bill gun safety package,” according to AP News.

Bellino said the legislation’s reach is concerning in regard to what it could do to other aspects of life. 

“What industry is safe when they want to attack gun manufacturers because they manufacture guns for people like me that are responsible gun owners?” Bellino said in an interview on WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM.

Fink argued the problem is not responsible gun owners, but the opposite.

“The overall thrust of the legislation that’s been introduced and passed out of either the House or Senate to this point does seem to me incongruent with the problem of gun violence,” Fink said, “which is, of course, driven by illegal use of firearms and oftentimes firearms that are already in hands that are supposedly not allowed to have them.”

Bellino said he thinks the growing issue of mental health needs to be addressed in connection to gun violence. 

“We have a serious problem,” Bellino said. “We are putting tons of money toward it, but it is not working.”

According to Bellino, the legislation put forth by Democrats is not going to solve the root of the problem.

“When they realize in six years that none of these bills worked because you can’t legislate hate and you can’t legislate mental illness, they are going to come back with more bills, and more bills, and more bills,” Bellino said.

Other counties share Fink and Bellino’s opposition to the new gun-control bills. At least 53 of the state’s 83 counties passed “Second Amendment Sanctuary” resolutions, which offer protective measures against gun-control legislation, according to Bridge Michigan. 

State Democrats also moved to expand the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act through Senate Bill 4. According to a press release from Fink’s office, this extended the state’s anti-discrimination law to cover gender identity and sexual orientation. The press release said Michigan is the first state to approve this legislation. 

Fink and other House Republicans pushed for changes to the bill, such as an amendment that would have grouped the civil rights expansion with the recent Michigan Religious Freedom Restoration Act, according to a press release. 

Democrats voted against the amendment, and Fink said this harmed religious freedom. 

“We should interpret it to mean that proponents of the legislation will also be proponents of enforcing it in such a way that puts religious groups into conflict with the law,” Fink said. “Some religious groups, not all.”

The state’s abortion rights are expanding after Proposal 3 codified the right to abortion in the state constitution. Bellino said he thinks organizations such as Helping Hands Pregnancy Resource Center in Hillsdale are under attack by the recent measures.

“They want to shut these down or they want to make them perform abortions,” Bellino said.

Bellino, however, expressed his support for these centers by putting forth his own legislation that would protect them.

“Bellino’s bill would prohibit certain state and local governmental entities from requiring pregnancy resource centers to offer abortion services or provide a referral for abortion services,” the Michigan Senate Republicans website said.

Fink and Bellino both remain optimistic.

“I always have hope. The pro-life cause is not done,” Bellino said.

Fink said the beauty of politics is that policies can change.

“The nature of politics is that a decision can only last as long as the people support it,” Fink said.