By Dave Workman
Editor-in-Chief
New gun control laws took effect in Michigan Tuesday, and according to the Detroit Free Press, gun control advocates already want more restrictions.
The Associated Press is describing the new laws as “Michigan’s sweeping new gun regulations.” They include a “safe storage” mandate, so-called “universal background checks,” and a “red flag” law which allows police, family members, roommates and “former dating partners” to seek a judge’s order to remove firearms from people who may be dangerous to themselves or others. Also called “Extreme Risk Protection Orders” (ERPO), the red flag law has become popular with gun control proponents, while Second Amendment advocates are concerned about due process and the rights of gun owners.
But buried deep in the Free Press report is a reference to state Rep. Felicia Brabec, a Pittsfield Township Democrat who also serves as chairperson of the Michigan Firearm Safety and Violence Prevention Caucus. She reported there is legislation in the works regarding so-called “ghost guns” and the possibility of gun buybacks.
But she also expressed dismay that Michigan still has a “stand-your-ground” law which, according to the newspaper’s description, “allows the use of deadly force any place someone has the legal right to be without imposing any ‘duty to retreat’ so long as the person using such force is not committing a crime at the time and believes the use of force will prevent imminent death, bodily harm or sexual assault.”
“That we still have that on the books, is problematic,” Brabec observed.
TGM reached out to Brabec for clarification by telephone and email, but received no response.
The newspaper also noted that Brabec’s caucus “is open to all state House representatives from both parties, but its members only include Democrats.”
“Republicans, for their part, have backed legislation aimed at improving school safety and mental health support but have largely opposed new gun restrictions,” the newspaper said.
It is a scenario that has played out on most local levels and the national scene. As noted by The Hill last December when Senate Democrats tried to push through a ban on semiautomatic rifles, Republicans stood firm against it. At the time, Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) immediately took issue when perennially anti-gun Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) when the latter asked for unanimous consent to pass the ban.
Said Barrasso at the time: “Americans have a constitutional right to own a firearm. Every day, people across Wyoming responsibly use their Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms. Democrats are demanding that the American people give up their liberty.”
Barrasso called the Second Amendment “freedom’s essential safeguard.”
After that vote, Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) issued a press release criticizing Republicans for blocking the gun ban measure.
“Washington state has made important progress on gun safety laws,” Murray asserted, “including passing an Assault Weapons Ban earlier this year, but state laws alone are insufficient when it’s still so easy to acquire an assault weapon or evade a background check just across the border in a different state.”
Murray should check her facts. Since Washington began adopting increasingly restrictive gun control laws in 2014, gun-related violence and especially homicides have gone up, not down. According to data from the FBI Uniform Crime Reports from 2014-2021, and the Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs (2022), the Evergreen State has seen homicides rise from 172 murders, including 94 involving guns in 2014 to 394 slayings in 2022, the most recent year for which data is available. That’s more than double the number of murders in eight years. In Seattle, the number of murders went from 23 in 2014 to 73 last year, more than triple the number.
