Latest news with #Mitten
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gun sales are dropping in these states. Where does Michigan rank?
Michigan and the U.S. saw fewer gun sales in 2024 than the previous year, a new report from SafeHome, a home security company, says. The June 4 report shows declining gun sales nationwide over the past three years, following a peak during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The data focuses on 2023 to 2024, when gun sales dropped 3.4% nationwide. While sales trended down nationwide, a few states saw increasing gun sale rates, according to the report, mainly in states with strong hunting culture and more relaxed gun laws. "America's storied relationship with firearms and the Second Amendment remains a defining part of its national identity. Each election cycle, politicians return to familiar platforms, either defending or contending the American citizen's right to bear arms," the report stated. "For many people, stringent gun control laws are imperative for ensuring their safety, while for others, expanding access to firearms enhances their personal sense of security." Michigan had one of the sharpest declines in sales in 2024, down 13.3% from the previous year. In 2023, the state expanded universal background checks to cover private sales and implemented strict safe storage laws, with felony penalties for violations involving minors. Additional legislation passed in late 2023 expanded gun-free zones to government buildings. Massachusetts had the most significant year-over-year increase in gun sales, rising 22.5% between 2023 and 2024, the report noted. The spike followed the 2024 implementation of An Act Modernizing Firearms Laws, which expanded the legal definition of firearms to include covert guns, unfinished frames, bump stocks, assault-style weapons, and more. People may have preemptively purchased guns before the law took effect, per the report. Washington state, meanwhile, saw a 45.7% decrease in gun sales between 2023 and 2024, more than triple the decline of any other state. The drop correlates with the passing of several major pieces of gun legislation in 2023, including a sweeping assault weapons ban, mandatory firearms safety training, and stricter requirements for licensed firearm dealers. Here's what to know. Michigan had a 13.3% decline in gun sales rates from 2023 to 2024, the report says. The Mitten state reported 481,870 guns sold in 2024. In the first four months of 2025, there were about 159,000 firearms sold in Michigan. The report attributes Michigan's sharp gun sales decline to the recent passage of gun control laws. In the wake of the Michigan State University mass shooting in 2023, Gov. Whitmer signed legislation to reduce gun violence. The laws expanded background checks and enacted regulations for safe firearms storage. Michigan also put into place "red flag" laws that can remove firearms from people deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. The U.S. gun sale rate dropped 3.4% from 2023 to 2024, per the report. In the first four months of 2025, American gun dealers and individuals sold approximately 5.2 million guns, putting the year on pace for a projected 4% drop in sales compared to 2024. In addition to Michigan, these states had the steepest declines in gun sale rates: Washington: 265,915 firearms, 45.7% drop Connecticut: 103.805, 13.5% drop Maryland: 186,085, 12.8% drop New Mexico: 143,469, 12.3% drop Declining gun sales can be attributed to a variety of factors, including the economy, gun control legislation, crime rates and public opinion, the report says. These states saw gun sale rates increase, bucking the national trend: Massachusetts: 167,103, 22.5% increase Iowa: 89,144, 7.7% increase South Carolina: 277,081, 6.9% increase New Hampshire: 145,700, 6.7% increase Arkansas: 213,165, 6.4% increase The report also noted the states with the highest gun sale rates per 100 residents age 21 or older in 2024: Wyoming: 16.1 (68,964 guns sold) Montana: 15.9 (135,000 guns sold) Alaska: 15.4 (79,000 guns sold) New Hampshire: 13.3 (145,000 guns sold) Oregon: 13.2 (429,000 guns sold) Alabama: 12.3 (460,000 guns sold) North Dakota: 11.7 (65,000 guns sold) Idaho: 11.5 (162,000 guns sold) West Virginia: 11.5 (155,000 guns sold) Tennessee: 11.1 (583,000 guns sold) Oklahoma: 11.1 322,000 guns sold) In 2024, the states with the lowest gun sale rates compared to population size were Hawaii, Washington D.C., New York, New Jersey, and Nebraska. The SafeHome rankings cited data from the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System from 2010 to April 2025, the report stated. Contact Jenna Prestininzi: jprestininzi@ This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan, other US states seem gun sales drops. What the data show
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Yahoo
Canadian travel to U.S. slumps amid Trump tariffs, other factors
Michigan and other U.S. states are seeing fewer Canadian visitors as international tourism declines. The downturn unfolds alongside a number of political and economic factors, including President Donald Trump's remarks about Canada becoming the 51st state, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's efforts to boost domestic travel, escalating tariffs and high-profile immigration detention cases. Canadians' return travel from trips to the U.S. has fallen sharply, 23% by car in February compared with the same month last year. Forecasts call for even sharper declines in air travel between Canada and the U.S. this summer. An economic research firm warns that the impact on Michigan could be sizable. Canadian travelers make up nearly 60% of international visits to Michigan, as compared with less than 30% of international visits to the U.S. according to Tourism Economics in an email to the Free Press. That means a loss of visitation from Canada could be particularly impactful to Michigan. In February, Canadian residents made roughly 1.2 million return trips from the U.S. by car, a 23% drop compared with the year before. Last month, Canadian residents primarily returned from U.S. border crossings to Ontario (59% of car trips), followed by British Columbia (19%), according to data from Statistics Canada. Tom Nemacheck, executive director at the Upper Peninsula Travel and Recreation Association, told the Free Press their warm weather marketing is underway. Yet, Canadian residents' response has declined substantially from prior years. It is too early to know the impact on local lodging this year, he said, but "it will be very noticeable." More: US requires registration, fingerprints for long-term travelers. What Canada is saying Canadian residents flew back from 585,700 trips to the U.S. last month — a 13% decline compared with February 2024. Future flight booking data for passenger trips from Canada to U.S. has plummeted by nearly three-quarters compared with the same time period last year, according to OAG, an aviation analytics firm. Tourism is a major driver of economic growth in the Mitten state. Last year, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, an average of nearly 430,000 people held jobs in Michigan's leisure and hospitality sector. From April to June 2024, about 153,000 Canadian adults traveled to Michigan for at least one overnight stay, according to preliminary data from Statistics Canada. The data doesn't account for day-trippers. Nearly 20 million Canadian residents, ages 18 years and older, traveled to the U.S. in 2023 for at least one overnight stay, and just over half a million visited Michigan. In 2023, Canadian visitors spent roughly $237.8 million in Michigan communities, according to the state. Michigan ranks 8th, tied with Arizona for the number of visits from adult Canadian residents. According to the latest annual data from Statistics Canada, Florida and New York saw the most travelers, 2.9 million and 2.1 million, respectively. Statewide, about 128.3 million people visited Michigan in 2023, resulting in $53.2 billion in total economic impact to Michigan's economy, according to 2023 data shared by the state's tourism agency. Contact Kristi Tanner: ktanner@ This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Canadian travel to U.S. slumps amid Trump tariffs, other factors
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Professors use 'living lab' model with students to introduce campus upgrades: 'It's a very, very positive step'
Professors and staff at SUNY New Paltz are planting the seeds of what sustainability-focused education could look like across the country. Associate professor Michael Sheridan is one of many leading the charge. According to The Hechinger Report, one of his business classes has an emphasis on the environment. It allows students to pitch proposals for green campus initiatives, including solar panels over a parking lot — which are projected to save the university more than $787,000 in energy costs over 50 years. Sheridan is a major contributor to the process of making New Paltz a "living lab," a new kind of collaborative teaching practice that is blooming on several campuses. "I think it's a very, very positive step," said senior scholar Bryan Alexander, who authored Universities on Fire: Higher Education in the Climate Crisis. "You've got the campus materials, you've got the integration of teaching and research." Sheridan's business background also proves that you don't have to be fully focused on the environment to be a part of an initiative like this. Anyone can bridge together any number of interests with sustainability. Working toward a cleaner future is open to everyone. Another staff member leading the charge at New Paltz is Lisa Mitten, the campus sustainability coordinator. Mitten runs a sustainability faculty fellows program that encourages professors to incorporate environmental issues into their classes. She also works with student sustainability ambassadors. One of her biggest projects involves collaborating with other New York State higher education institutions to use more renewable, non-polluting energy sources on campuses. One of New Paltz's sustainability faculty fellows, associate professor of theatre design Andrea Varga, teaches an ethical fashion course within the university's honors program. Varga's students also pitch ideas about how to engage in sustainable fashion on campus and beyond. A couple of her students have even worked on a project to install microplastic filters in campus laundry rooms. Which of the following sustainable changes would make you most likely to choose a particular airline? Using cleaner fuel Reducing in-flight waste Making it easy to choose low-emissions itineraries I don't pay attention to sustainability when I fly Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. SUNY New Paltz offers programs focused on environmental science and environmental studies. The former is science-focused, and the latter is interdisciplinary. There is also a sustainability track for business students, and there are classes with a sustainability course designation. These educational paths exist because faculty and staff members want to support students' interests. Sheridan, Mitten, and Varga are a few of the many people who want to provide valuable, hands-on experience. While there are several ways to gain an education, their work is making it easier for students who want traditional experiences to learn about and implement sustainability in the world around them. The initiatives involving solar panels and microplastic filters will not just save communities money and benefit public health, but they will also keep the environment cleaner. Many students want to act in order to have a better future. Take Madeleine Biles, a senior management major who interned with the Lake George Land Conservancy over the summer. Biles told The Hechinger Report that she chose New Paltz because of its alignment with work related to the environment. She also hopes taking this action will allow her to process her feelings related to the rising global temperature, which has caused extreme weather to grow more intense, threatened food security, and contributed to disease spread, among other things. "I think if I have a career in sustainability, that will be my way of channeling that frustration and sadness and turning it into a positive thing," she and staff at SUNY New Paltz are planting the seeds of what sustainability-focused education could look like across the country. Join our free newsletter for good news and useful tips, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet.
