NRA-ILA | Michigan: Anti-Gun Bill Packages Introduced

Yesterday, anti-gun lawmakers filed bill packages to criminalize private transfers, require firearms be made unavailable for self-defense, and allow Second Amendment rights to be suspended without due process. Please contact your lawmakers and ask them to OPPOSE these gun control schemes.

Senate Bills 76, 77, and 78 further criminalize private transfers of firearms by expanding Michigan’s handgun permit to purchase system to all firearms. Such “universal” background check systems can never be universal, because criminals, by definition, do not comply with the law. These laws are unenforceable without a firearm registry and turn otherwise law-abiding citizens into criminals for simply loaning firearms to friends or many family members.

Senate Bills 79, 80, 81, and 82 impose a mandatory storage scheme for firearm owners, not taking into account an individual’s particular situation. Those not storing firearms in compliance face prison time up to 15 years and fines up to $7,500 for unauthorized access by minors. In District of Columbia v. Heller, the U.S. Supreme Court held that storage provisions that prevent a law-abiding American from having ready access to a firearm for self-defense are unconstitutional.

Senate Bills 83, 84, 85, and 86 allow the seizure of an individual’s firearms on baseless accusations, without a hearing or other opportunity for the evidence to be heard in court. They permit the government to seize firearms based on weak and nebulous standards of evidence.

A person subject to a suspension of a Constitutional right should be entitled to high evidentiary standards, an opportunity to be heard, and the right to face his or her accusers. Civil liberties advocates from across the political spectrum have expressed concerns about these “red flag” bills and how the procedure might lead to abuses because of insufficient due process protections in the bills.

Again, please contact your lawmakers and ask them to OPPOSE these gun control schemes.