Kalamazoo Public Library generic

Kalamazoo Public Library's downtown building was the site of an open-carry gun incident on June 8.

(Mark Bugnaski / Gazette)

UPDATE: Man explains why he open carries

KALAMAZOO, MI -- An incident involving a man carrying a gun at the Kalamazoo Public Library's Summer Reading Party shows the need to add libraries to the list of gun-free zones in Michigan, said Ann Rohrbaugh, Kalamazoo Public Library director.

But a spokesman for Michigan Open Carry Inc. says the library owes the man an apology.

A similar open-carry incident in Kalamazoo's Milwood neighborhood has stirred local debate about gun rights and the limits of legal restrictions on carrying a gun in public places.

The most recent incident occurred mid-afternoon Saturday, June 8, in the parking lot of the downtown Kalamazoo library during a children's event kicking off its summer reading program, according to Rohrbaugh.

She said the man had a handgun in a holster. When approached by library staff, "he told us that he carries a gun to protect his young daughter," Rohrbaugh said.

"We're under instruction from police to call them whenever we see someone with a gun, so we did," Rohrbaugh said. "In the meantime, one of our administrators told the man that we'd like him to leave.

"The man declined to leave, and he said he had the right to carry his gun," Rohrbaugh said.

At the encouragement of his wife, Rohrbaugh said, the man ended up leaving the library parking lot before the police arrived.

However, the man was standing across the street when police arrived, and he returned to talk with police about his legal rights, Rohrbaugh said.

"Then he left again, and the police did confirm to us that they want us to call when we see someone with a gun," Rohrbaugh said.

Under current Michigan law, Rohrbaugh and Gail Madziar, head of the Michigan Library Association, acknowledged the man was within his rights to carry a gun into the library.

"But just because something is legal doesn't been it's the best idea," Madziar said.

But Rob Harris, spokesman for Michigan Open Carry Inc., said he thinks the library's actions in the June 8 situation were "unacceptable."

"They made him so uncomfortable that he had to leave?" Harris said. "I think that's awful. The library owes him an apology."

If people were uncomfortable by seeing a man with a gun, that's their problem, he said. "Unfortunately for them, nothing in the law says they have the right to be comfortable."

The issues of guns in libraries was the subject of a 2011 court case involving the Capital Area District Library and Michigan Open Carry, in which the two organizations battled over CADL's policy not to allow guns in their libraries.

The lower courts ruled in favor of Michigan Open Carry. Last November, the Michigan Supreme Court declined to hear the library's appeal.

The Michigan Library Association is now seeking to add libraries to a list of places that are gun-free zones in Michigan.

Currently, there are eight categories on that list: Banks and credit union; churches; courts; theaters; sports arenas; day-care centers; hospitals, and establishments that serve liquor. That law does allow an exception for police and security officers, and people with a permit to carry a concealed weapon.

"We feel you don't need to bring a gun to the library to protect your family," Rohrbaugh said. "We feel the library is a safe place. We have security guards. We take safety very seriously, and we have a code of conduct that we enforce."

"To young children, seeing a gun can be frightening," Madziar said, adding her organization wants libraries to have the ability to set their own policy on guns.

Harris said there are too many restrictions on gun rights already.

"The right to self-preservation is given to us by God, and the law should uphold that," he said. "No place is 100 percent safe."

He said he routinely carries a handgun to protect his 3-year-old daughter, including to the Grosse Pointe public library near his house.

Asked how people can distinguish between a "good guy with a gun" from a "bad guy with a gun" in public places, Harris said: "These are not easy questions to answer."

Manzier and Rohrbaugh said the reality is that library patrons don't know the intentions of someone carrying a gun into a library and can fear the worst. An incident like the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut "is a concern everybody has," Madziar said.

"I would certainly encourage people to go to their legislator and get them to change the law," Rohrbaugh said.

Julie Mack covers K-12 education and writes a column for Kalamazoo Gazette. Email her at jmack1@mlive.com, call her at 269-350-0277 or follow her on Twitter @kzjuliemack.