Don't talk about guns.

That's the message Michigan leaders are sending as the nation grapples with how to address mass school shootings.

While lawmakers juggle proposals to increase school safety following the shooting in Parkland, Florida, many Republican leaders are not eager to discuss guns.

"...You start with guns, you're going to get a polarized discussion and most likely nothing ... other than people being polarized, upset and yelling at each other," Gov. Rick Snyder said at the Mackinac Policy Conference at the end of May. "Let's start talking about helping troubled kids, let's start talking about hardening schools."

The concept of "hardening schools" means beefing up the physical structures themselves. Thicker doors. Tougher locks. Bulletproof glass. Identification software.

Democratic lawmakers like State Rep. Robert Wittenberg, D-Oak Pak, feel the safety measures don't fully address the problem.

"What they're trying to do is only half of the equation," said Wittenberg, a sponsor of gun control bills in the House. "I think we have to do everything we can to prevent (school shootings) from happening."

Wittenberg's red-flag gun legislation, which would allow judges to intervene and keep guns away from the mentally ill, hasn't gotten a hearing in the House yet.

Focusing just on school safety also doesn't sit well with students like Ann Arbor Pioneer High School's Clara Nunez-Regueiro, who has been an outspoken advocate in favor of more gun control in the weeks and months following the deaths of 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.

"I do not believe that simply making schools 'safer' will solve school shootings in America," she said. "To solve school shootings, we have to attack the root of the problem: gun culture in America. It's like if someone got shot and a doctor just put a Band-Aid over the bullet hole -- the problem is still there, you just covered it up."

Safer schools

Rockford Public Schools Superintendent Mike Shibler watched in horror as two middle school boys in Jonesboro, Arkansas opened fire on their classmates in 1998, a year before the Columbine High School massacre in Colorado.

Shibler saw that the world was changing and that his district's approach to safety had to change, too. The superintendent, who's been with the district 29 years now, started a public safety department to serve the district's 8,000 students and 14 buildings.

The 10-member districtwide security department is comprised of former police officers like Director Scott Beckman who joined after a long career with the Wyoming Police Department.

"Schools have always been that sanctuary, that safe place that you could send your kids and didn't worry about it," Beckman said. "And that's changed dramatically over the course of years."

The officers aren't armed as a matter of routine, but it is an option, Shibler said.

In addition to the public safety department, Rockford school buildings have become technological fortresses with shatter-proof film covering first-floor windows and vestibules where people need to be buzzed in. They even have thumb-print recognition software.

Now Michigan lawmakers are proposing making schools more like the Rockford district.

On June 12, the Michigan Legislature approved a budget that includes $58 million to fund school safety initiatives like reinforcing buildings, mental illness resources and the threat-reporting system OK2SAY.

Various plans hatched in Snyder's office, the House and Senate since Parkland call for:

Police officers to train for "active violence" scenarios

Schools to report any threats of violence

Future schools to be built with better safety standards

The OK2SAY program to remain funded

Schools to provide police with emergency contact information twice a year

Districts to create an emergency plan for all buildings that would be reviewed by police every two years.

Republicans have not discussed taking up any kind of gun-related legislation.

Non-controversial approaches

A coalition of law enforcement and education agencies asking for $120 million to fund school safety initiatives intentionally left guns out of their plan.

"Our coalition very purposefully stayed away from the gun control argument," said Jennifer Smith of the Michigan Association of School Boards. "We feel that the plan we put forward should be non-controversial. It is something we could do today. We were trying to stay out of the gun debate. We don't want some of these things that could be done for schools tied to gun reform, because now you're in a whole new realm of political will."

The coalition worked with lawmakers to get two bills introduced in the House this May. One bill would fund grant programs for schools who need police officers and mental health resources. The other bill would add options for prosecutors charging individuals who make threats against students or school property.

Right now, prosecutors use an anti-terrorism felony, punishable by 20 years in prison, to charge individuals who threaten schools. There was a spike in such threats following Parkland, such as one in Whitmore Lake where two teens were overheard talking about shooting up the high school. While the teens didn't take any steps beyond talking about it, officials had no choice but to charge them with a 20-year felony.

Under the new law, individuals who make verbal threats against a school could be charged with a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail, or a fine not more than $1,000 or both. If there was "specific intent" to carry out the threat, or an "overt act" toward carrying it out, a defendant could be charged with a 10-year felony, or a fine of not more than $10,000 or both.

That bill was approved by the House on June 12 and is now with the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Stalled gun measures

Following Parkland, Michigan's Senate Democrats introduced a range of gun control bills that would expand universal criminal background checks to cover all firearm sales, prevent concealed weapon permit holders from carrying on school property and establish sentencing guidelines for background checks.

"I think the average Michigander believes that when someone purchases a gun in Michigan a background check is conducted," said state Sen. Curtis Hertel, D-East Lansing, whose Senate bills call for background checks and keeping guns off school property. "Unfortunately, that is not always the case. My bills assure that guns stay out of the hands of those who should not legally own them. This is a small but reasonable step that will keep guns out of the hands of those that should not have them."

The bills are unlikely to get anywhere in the Republican-led Legislature, however. House Speaker Tom Leonard, R-DeWitt, has no plans on taking up any new gun legislation, according to his spokesman, Gideon D'Assandro.

"The House and Senate want to focus more on policy that can keep schools safe," said D'Assandro.

This includes red flag laws, which allow judges to intervene and issue orders to separate mentally ill individuals from their firearms if petitioned by police or loved ones.

As it stands, federal law permits authorities to take a mentally ill person's gun away if he or she had been charged with a crime and found not guilty by reason of insanity or incompetent to stand trial.

Since Parkland, states like Florida, Maryland and Vermont have passed such laws. Wittenberg's red-flag legislation, which would create Extreme Risk Protection Orders, was introduced in June 2017.

"Unfortunately, it hasn't gotten anywhere," said Wittenberg, who founded a Gun Violence Caucus in 2016.

Wittenberg hopes the legislation can be revisited down the road, but it's unlikely.

"(Leonard's) not supportive of the legislation," D'Assandro said. "He's got concerns with how it handles due process. He's focused instead on what we can do to fix mental health."

Snyder hasn't dismissed red-flag laws, however, and is waiting to hear what his School Safety Task Force comes up with.

"He will look to them for recommendations on protecting students from not only active shooters, but other threats as well," said Snyder spokeswoman Anna Heaton. "Red flag laws may be part of their work that informs the legislative discussions, but that is still to be determined."

The task force, created by executive order shortly after Parkland, will meet twice a month and submit a final report to the governor and Legislature no later than November 2018.

Guns were not mentioned at its first meeting on June 21, according to the meeting minutes, but they could eventually be part of the discussion, according to Heaton.

"It's possible," she said. "The Task Force is examining any and all threats to students."

Guns in schools

While gun control advocates push for changes, Republicans are considering a different tactic: putting more guns in schools.

Rep. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, and Rep. Gary Glenn, R-Williams Township, have talked about introducing legislation that would allow properly trained and certified teachers to be armed in schools, though nothing concrete has been introduced.

The Michigan Supreme Court is also still mulling the issue of whether a person with a concealed weapon license can open carry at schools - stemming from cases at school districts in Ann Arbor and Clio. Court spokesman John Nevin said justices will likely have a decision before the end of their term this month.

Superintendent Shibler sees no place in his school for guns, though, either on the hips of people with concealed carry permits or in the hands of teachers.

"Dealing with the gun issue is obviously a real concern," he said. "I want to make it clear that I'm a strong supporter of the Second Amendment for people owning guns for hunting, for protection, for safety issues ... but for somebody to bring a gun into our schools, either a sidearm through open carry or concealed carry, is just flat wrong. There's no reason for it.

There's no purpose for that whatsoever."

Christie Ramsey, who graduated from Rockford High in 1999, has three kids between fourth and eleventh grade in the district. She said she feels her kids are safe thanks to all the security measures in the Rockford district. She doesn't think arming teachers is the answer.

"It just muddies all the water," she said. "If there was actually an issue with an active shooter in the building, how are police ... going to know who you are... Are you a safe shooter with a gun, or are you not? To be honest, I wouldn't want anyone second guessing that if my kids are in that school and there is an active shooter there."

Ramsey, whose family owns guns for hunting, advocates for more gun control.

"There's just not a whole lot of waiting periods in our state and it's kind of scary," she said. "I'm not against guns in general, I'm just against guns in schools."

Republican lawmakers continue to hammer out the details of their school safety plans. They will continue to work on the issue when they reconvene in September, according to D'Assandro.