Tag Archives: gun rights

Michigan House Votes to Repeal Right-Infringing Handgun Requirements by 2-1 Margin

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Success! Even with attempts by some lawmakers to use the Trayvon Martin case in Florida to pander to anti-gunners in our state, the Michigan House has voted 72-36 in favor of repealing the permit-to-purchase and registration requirements for handguns. Instead, these outdated practices will be replaced by using the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System which made these requirements obsolete in 1998.

I outlined some of the main changes that will occur in a previous post, but two points of interest are (via NRA-ILA):

  • “Repeal the state requirement to seek police permission to purchase a firearm by traveling to a local police station and obtaining a permit to purchase.
  • Repeal the requirement to register a completely legally purchased and owned firearm by a law-abiding citizen to be registered with the government through the police.”

Now the bill goes to the Senate. Visit the Michigan Senate page to find contact info for your senator to urge the support of HB 5225.

Michigan Considers Revising Outdated Handgun Laws

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Michigan is finally reviewing its old laws regarding the requirements of purchasing a handgun in the state. A House Judiciary Committee will review House Bill 5225 which will
revise permit-to-purchase and registration requirements. The NRA has been working to repeal these requirements since federal law already requires a criminal background check and has done so since 1998.

The NRA has teamed up with some state Representatives to change the language in the bill.  Some of the changes include:

  • If an applicant has more than one licence application, then that person will only have to complete a single basic pistol safety review questionnaire.
  • “The application is not required to be notarized and shall be processed free of charge.”
  • There are also provisions to make it easier to transfer ownership to an heir or “devisee.”

Read all the changes in language here. They’re all in bold.

These changes are only common sense. The legislation was introduced by Representative Paul Opsommer who says:

“Much of what we have in our gun law regarding the purchasing and registering of firearms, known as Public Act 372 of 1927, is still on the books for no other reason than that it is the way we have done things for decades upon decades. It is time to make this all less duplicative and bureaucratic for gun owners and also free up law enforcement time and resources so that they can focus on things that have real impact on public safety.”

Indeed.  Making it easier for law-abiding citizens to purchase handguns while giving law
enforcement back some precious time to fight crime—I’m all for it.

If you want to support this revised bill, contact info for the Michigan Judiciary Committee can be found here.

h/t NRA-ILA