Michigan lawmakers must have been binge-watching too many dystopian movies, because they’ve introduced a shiny new hotline to turn students into mini-spies against their parents. Yes, you read that right. The bipartisan brain trust at the Michigan legislature passed a budget amendment to create a $1 million anonymous tip line where kids can snitch on their folks for “improperly” storing firearms.
Here is the House Fiscal Agency summary of the school aid supplemental that is expected to come up for a vote today:
$125M for mental health
$1M for tip line for students to report improperly stored firearms pic.twitter.com/4ScT6Bgw2w [1]— Simon D. Schuster (@Simon_Schuster) September 25, 2024 [2]
From school safety to surveillance state.
The official story behind this Orwellian gem? School safety. Supposedly. Lawmakers have decided the way to keep kids safe in school is to let them channel their inner narc and call out their parents for not locking up the family’s Glock. What could go wrong with encouraging kids to tattle on their parents anonymously?’
Lots of things. Mad at your parents for making you eat Brussels sprouts? Threaten to turn them in. Want to keep dating that grungy guy your parents don’t like? Threaten to turn them in. Who even cares if the parents don’t even have guns – or have guns but they are stored properly. Teenagers who are mad at their parents for anything can call the tip line and get their folks in trouble – or threaten to do it so they can’t get their way on something.
Gun control or parent control?
State Senator John Damoose and his fellow Republicans aren’t falling for what legislators are pushing, labeling the proposal as just another cog in the Left’s gun control machine. And honestly, he’s not wrong. A “tattletale tip line”? That’s a loud and clear signal: parents better keep their anti-gun kids satisfied or risk being reported. And if the kids themselves pose a threat, snagging their parents’ guns to commit a crime, it’s the parents who could end up behind bars. Welcome to the new reality of parenting in Michigan.