CBS Detroit: Lawmakers Approve Changes To Concealed Weapons Law
A State Senate committee on Thursday approved changes to Michigan’s concealed weapons law that include allowing people to carry concealed guns in churches, schools and sports arenas.The bill, SB 59 has been recommended for passage in the Senate and would allow a permit holder, with additional training beyond the base level required under the standard permit, to carry within the now prohibited areas. The bill also does several other things, including ending the concealed weapon licensing boards and transferring the issuance of CPLs to the Secretary of State and many other improvements, as well as slightly toughen the standard training standards by requiring more rounds to be shot. The proposed standard increases the number of rounds from 30 to 98. This increase is no problem as the standard course of fire in the standard NRA training program is coincidentally enough in the area of 98 rounds. Since I stick to the curriculum when I teach, each student shoots at least that much, and more if they're having any issues.
The legislation now goes to a vote in the full Senate.
Under the new law citizens would be allowed to carry their weapons into churches, schools and sports arenas — places they currently aren’t allowed to be packing heat. The proposal would also eliminate the state’s 83 county gun boards and transfer the power to issue CCW permits to local sheriff’s departments.
“Basically it’s a pretty huge rewrite of the concealed weapons permit law,” said WWJ Lansing Bureau Chief Tim Skubick.
Under the amended law “highly trained” permit holders would be able to carry in the gun-free zones – which would require extra hours of training and more rounds fired at the range beyond the current basic requirements.
So since it was just reported favorably from committee, it certainly wouldn't hurt Michiganders and most especially Michigunners to contact your state senator and express your support of SB59.
1 comment:
I'm very supportive of this Bill, and hope it passes both houses. I'm also looking forward to taking your "extra training" to move myself to CPL "tier 2" (my term) if you will be offering any. And hey - more rounds equals more fun, right? :)
I have been following the debate over at the MGO website, and oddly enough, there are those who oppose this as "not going far enough" and being detrimental to those who open carry (though I'm not following their reasoning on that one). I find that odd since Michigan Open Carry endorsed the bill and testified in favor of it before the committee.
One quibble with your review - issuance is transferred to County Sheriffs, not SecState. According to the MGO and MOC lobbyists, that was the best they were going to get. It removes one layer of bureaucracy (gun boards) from the process, and that's always a good thing. There are also some sanctions against counties who purposely gum up the works and put unlawful extra restrictions or conditions on issuance.
All in all it's a major step forward for CPL holders in Michigan.
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