There’s an enormous difference between criminals who misuse firearms and law-abiding Americans who own them responsibly.
Grand Rapids, Mich. Mayor David LaGrand blurred that line recently when he suggested the city should begin “shaming” gun ownership and said that if someone did indeed own a firearm, they should be “ashamed.”
“Nobody changes their tire with a gun. What they’re for is killing human beings. So it’s really hard. I think as a community, we have to start having some shaming around gun possession. I think that if you’ve got a gun, you should be ashamed of yourself. I really do,” Mayor LaGrand asserted during his “Mayor’s Monday” community discussion meeting.
Let that sink in.
Public officials are entitled to strong views, of course. However, they are not entitled to redefine constitutional rights as social vices. The mayor’s obligation is to serve the whole community. He took an oath to defend the Constitution and uphold the law, which includes respecting the Second Amendment rights of citizens who choose lawful firearm ownership for self-defense, hunting and recreational sport shooting.
Grand Rapids residents deserve serious conversations to solve criminal behavior, not about shaming fellow citizens exercising their Second Amendment rights. Shaming the law-abiding does not deter criminals. It only divides the community and shifts blame to the innocent. Criminals are contemptable. Mayor LaGrand misleads when he turns that ire on those who obey laws.
A Fast Backtrack
After his remarks got traction for the wrong reasons, Mayor LaGrand issued “a clarification,” stating that the Second Amendment and state law “limit the policy options” available to a municipal officials and that his comments were “not a signal of impending policy,” but an expression of frustration and sorrow. If that’s believable, there’s the Pearl Street Bridge that crosses over the Grand River that runs through the city with a “for sale” sign on it too.
Mayor LaGrand knew what he was saying and his clarification only makes it more obvious that he’s found it politically expedient to blame those who have done no wrong in his city for the crimes of those he refuses to hold accountable. That annoying Constitution gets in the way of him imposing gun control. He’s denigrating a constitutional right to a vice and invites his fellow citizens to join him in that condemnation.
Public safety is serious work. So is public service. Elected officials who genuinely want to reduce criminal violence do not pick fights with the law-abiding. They build trust with the community while focusing pressure on violent offenders and the criminals who traffic firearms illegally.
Shameful Strategy
This isn’t entirely unexpected, however. Mayor LaGrand is a member of the Everytown for Gun Safety’s mayoral gun control group Mayors Against Illegal Guns (MAIG). Both groups are funded by another previous mayor, former New York City Mayor and billionaire Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg’s “Mayors” gun control organization has attempted to shame lawful gun owners before. It’s also blown up in their face before as well, metaphorically of course. MAIG members have, ironically, been charged with firearms-related offenses. And, most spectacularly, Bloomberg’s MAIG actually honored the terrorist and Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, as a “gun violence victim” in 2013.
Tsarnaev wasn’t remotely close to being a victim. He was a terrorist who killed three, later killed a policeman, wounded two more (one of whom died a year later of his injuries), injured hundreds and terrorized a city before police shot him and his own terrorist brother ran him over with a car.
Mayor LaGrand should know better. Violent offenders already ignore laws against assault, armed robbery and homicide. The people most affected by Mayor LaGrand’s rhetoric are the people who follow the law. They are residents who take a safety course, the parent who locks up firearms at home, the small business owner closing up at night or the woman who has a protection order and wants a lawful means of defense.
Words from City Hall have consequences. When leaders portray gun ownership itself as shameful, they encourage suspicion of ordinary citizens and deepen division at exactly the moment communities need cooperation, trust and credible enforcement.
It also misdirects attention away from the real drivers of shootings: repeat offenders, illegal possession by prohibited persons, gang-on-gang retaliatory violence and the networks that traffic firearms into criminal hands. Those are the areas where a city can advocate for meaningful results, including focused deterrence, better information sharing and support for prosecutors to prioritize violent crime.
845,000 Reasons Mayor LaGrand is Wrong
Michigan’s legal framework already distinguishes sharply between lawful ownership and criminal conduct. State law broadly preempts local governments from creating their own firearm rules, reflecting the principle that fundamental rights should not be a patchwork that change at the city limits.
There is nothing “fringe” about lawful gun ownership in Michigan. The Michigan State Police’s most recent monthly report shows 845,237 approved concealed pistol licenses statewide as of February 1, 2026. That’s more than Grand Rapids’ population. Those licenses are held by citizens who went through a rigorous and structured process. They are not proof of wrongdoing. They are evidence of lawful citizens exercising their Constitutional rights.
That matters because Mayor LaGrand’s statement criticizes more than criminals. He condemns the law-abiding majority and suggests that lawful ownership, by itself, is a stain on a Michigander’s character. That is not only inaccurate, but also unjust.
A city mayor should be capable of condemning criminal violence without implying guilt by association on those simply exercising their Constitutional rights.
– Larry Keane
Lawrence G. Keane is the Senior Vice President and General Counsel for NSSF, The Firearm Industry Trade Association.
