This bill basically amends current law to require firearms to be inaccessible to minors, with heavy penalties if not followed to the letter.
The bill basically criminalizes anyone leaving a firearm unattended for any length of time and not locked up if the owner knows or should know a minor is present and could potentially obtain the firearm. It also applies to someone visiting a residence where a minor may be present.
Note it does not have to be your minor, it can be anyone's minor that ends up sending you to the clink.
Per the law, the firearm has to be in a locked box or container that is specifically designed for storing firearms, or unloaded with some kind of locking device that is designed for firearms.
So per the phrasing of this law, if you store your firearms in a secure room with a lock on the door, that will not count. You arguably could also be prosecuted for locking your guns in a safe that is not specifically a gun safe if something happens. That's really awesome.
If you're visiting a place with a minor and leave a firearm there unattended for any reason that is also subject to the law. The only way out of that would be to not only leave it in your vehicle but have it in a locked box or unloaded and locked with some sort of locking device.
So yes, there's some definite traps in this law for the normal law-abiding gun owner that might think locking their guns up in a room with a lock on the door or in a locked cabinet or even in a lock-box that was not specifically designed for firearms would be acceptable.
Penalties include a misdemeanor if a minor obtains the firearm and then either
(i) Possesses or exhibits the firearm in a public place. Or (ii) Possesses or exhibits the firearm in the presence of another person in a careless, reckless, or threatening manner.'
Now, if the minor commits a crime where someone including the minor gets hurt then it is a felony. If the minor kills someone or themselves it's a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison for improper storage.
Rather draconian penalties and imposition of responsibility for the crimes of another there. Sadly, the Democrats seem to not desire any such law in regards to cars or other dangerous items. Funny, that.
Hilariously, the Department of Health and Human services is supposed to provide "Lethal counseling literature" to FFLs under this bill. Note the appropriation for this literature is what will prevent this law from being overturned by a referendum.
It is unknown as to whether this literature will actually counsel people on how to be lethal, but I have my doubts. Much more likely is it will pay for anti-firearms ownership propaganda at taxpayer expense. One wonders what "lethal counseling literature" has to do with preventing minors from stealing a firearm and using it illegally, but there we are.
6 comments:
Have a friend who bought for his bedside a gun safe with a fingerprint lock. Someone could carry it away but without his finger he said it wouldn't open. Would that fit their bill?
glasslass: As written, assuming its a locked container designed to hold a firearm, that's fine per the proposed law (so far, anyways).
How does this fit with Heller?
At some point you gotta consider moving. You left the Liberal Dems alone, but they won't leave you alone. Best to simply let them have the ground and fort up somewhere else. If you can't win the fight (and it appears that you can't) then you gotta decide how much CHOAD yer gonna swallow or leave.
B
That is certainly one answer. Is it the answer for most people who have made their life in Michigan? Probably not, if you would be honest.
I am almost 63, with a wife, children and grandchildren, a Michigan resident since birth. My family, friends, home, and everything else is here. You propose that I just up and walk away from that, on a fixed income, and relocate to exactly where?
Don't forget that the federal government is also attempting their overreach into our lives, and pockets. And that in all of my days in Michigan, I have seen both Democrat and Republican governments, and both pro and anti freedom actions coming from Lansing.
In the same way that they say if you don't like the weather here, just wait a day, and it will change, so too if you don't like the way politics are going, just wait, and they will also change. The only thing about politics is that you CAN do something about that. And besides, Michigan is just about the most beautiful state in the union.
BC: Hard to say. I'm not currently aware of any heller/MacDonald/Bruen challenges to Red Flag or "Safe Storage" laws yet. The law does not restrict on-body carry in your home or elsewhere, but if you ever put it down it has to be locked up (in their prescribed manner) so a minor cannot access it.
B: Yep, I am starting to look into it (Texas, Georgia, or Tennesee as possibilities are starting to sound appealing), but moving and giving up all the connections I've made here and starting the firm all over from scratch would be rather difficult. Plus, might as well start helping to politically battle against this nonsense, assuming our state GOP can quit their circular firing squad and actually be effective, which is unfortunately questionable as they seem to be on a blitz to reinforce failure.
pigpen51: Yep, its hard to decide to give up and move, think I'd rather stay and fight this nonsense, at least for now.
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