By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
Bridge Michigan is reporting that Democrats in the Great Lakes State are “mounting a push for additional firearm reforms” before Republicans take over the state House of Representatives in January.
This will bring back a divided legislature, effectively roadblocking extremist gun control and other measures Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was able to get through with full Democrat control.
As noted by the Detroit Free Press on Nov. 6, Republicans needed 56 seats to wrest control of the House, and they won 57. Republican House Minority Leader Matt Hall (Richland Township) summed it up the day after the election: “With a Republican majority, Michigan will have a stronger voice fighting for the values of hardworking families and addressing the issues that matter most — safe schools and neighborhoods, an affordable economy, and a government that provides value for dollars.”
In 2023, Gov. Whitmer signed what her office called “commonsense gun violence prevention legislation.”
The measures included so-called “universal background check” and “safe-storage” laws. The legislation was her administration’s response to a shooting at Michigan State University in 2023 and Oxford High School in 2021. It remains questionable whether the university shooting would have been prevented by any legislation, since the guns used by the killer had been legally purchased. Whether a safe storage mandate might have kept the murder weapon out of the hands of the 15-year-old high school shooter is debatable, since both parents were revealed at trial to have been negligent. They were convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to prison.
According to Bride Michigan, there are some possible measures which could be rammed through by Democrats as the year draws to a close. Among them would be a law allowing legislators with concealed carry licenses to be exempt from a general gun ban in the capitol building, and House and Senate office buildings. However, the story said, “Others could face a misdemeanor charge punishable by up to 90 days in jail, a $100 fine or both.”
Another bill mentioned in the article would require firearms manufacturers to adopt “reasonable controls” on their products. Among requirements to achieve that end would be a that retailers “deny selling a gun to someone they ‘believe is at substantial risk of using a firearm-related product to harm … or unlawfully harm another.’” It is not clear how dealers would be expected to do that without facing possible legal action by someone arbitrarily denied a sale.
Democrats also reportedly want to implement a state-level ban on “bump stocks” after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the federal ban earlier this year.
