Yesterday, the Michigan House passed, by a 59/49 vote, a new gun law that demotes the once-required concealed pistol license to an optional certificate; a training and safety measure only.

The new law allows citizens to carry a concealed pistol without a license. No more worries for the "open carry" crowd, when a coat or a sweatshirt inadvertently covers the weapon, thereby creating felony exposure.

Lee Chatfield [R-Levering], who sponsored the legislation, asserted the basis of the legislation was that criminals were never bothered with following the gun permit laws anyway. According to its mostly Republican sponsors, the legislation is designed to provide law abiding citizens with the same rights and opportunities to bear concealed weapons.

Similarly, Jim Runestad [R-White Lake] said the new law repeals unnecessary criminal sanctions for when an overcoat covers the weapon of an arms-bearing individual. This was known as the "coat tax" among gun rights advocates.

Gun laws come and go. Even considering the Second Amendment, the manner in which one bears arms will always be regulated to a certain extent, with high criminal penalties for transgressions.

Just as the new law was passed in the state legislature, the Michigan Court of Appeals upheld a law that allows the University of Michigan to ban guns on all of its campuses. Ann Arbor has always been a league leader in blazing its own legal trail. Decriminalization of pot in the 1980s -at the height of the drug war- and the UM admission policies reviewed by the SCOTUS both come to mind.

The training involved in handling and storing a weapon safely is crucial to the process, especially when the overwhelming majority of gun owners are law-abiding citizens.

Post #595

www.clarkstonlegal.com

Although we have not done so lately, this blog has posted on Supreme Court cases testing the scope and parameters of the Second Amendment.  The right to bear arms is one of those bedrock principles in our constitution that many citizens hold to be as sacred as our First Amendment right to free speech.

Two years ago, we tracked a piece of legislation addressing Michigan's "open carry" law in this post.  Then, the issue was Governor Snyder's veto of expansive gun legislation in the wake of the Newtown, CN school massacre.

There is a so-called "loophole" in Michigan's gun laws which allows someone with a valid concealed pistol license to "open carry" a weapon on school grounds.  Guns are otherwise banned on school property.

Today, the open carry "loophole" is back in the news as gun activists have staged incidents this week involving the display of their weapons in and around public schools; one incident was in Ann Arbor and the other was in Madison Heights.  Both events caused grave concern among school administrators and local law enforcement and drew plenty of media attention.

Twice this week at Lamphere High School, a gun-toting activist -an unemployed former Marine- attempted to enter school grounds but was rebuffed by the Madison Heights PD.  He sported a rifle slung on one shoulder, holstered a semi-automatic pistol, and had a video camera to record the ruckus strapped to his chest.  For their part, school administrators, taking no chances, locked down the high school during the two incidents.

Meanwhile, at Ann Arbor's Pioneer High School, a gun activist attended a school concert with a pistol strapped to his side. This led to a packed meeting of the Ann Arbor school board and the passage of a strongly-worded resolution calling for legislators to close this loophole.

In our free society, there are always going to be individuals that test the limits of our rights. With all of the school shootings that have occurred over the past few decades, these recent events highlight the intersection between basic school safety and our constitutional right to bear arms.

We here at the Law Blogger believe that, considering the hundreds of children that have been shot at, wounded and killed at their schools, perhaps our state legislature should act to close this loophole. We believe that public safety concerns outweigh the right to bear arms on school grounds and that these valid concerns justify a properly tailored restriction to the open carry laws.

www.clarkstonlegal.com
info@clarkstonlegal.com

There is a little-known loophole in our gun laws that allows a person that has a concealed pistol license (CPL) to openly carry a firearm into a school, provided the weapon is visibly holstered.  Given recent headlines, State Representative Andy Schor, (D Lansing), is attempting to close this loophole with House Bill 4104.

Hopefully, these terrible headlines will render the state gun lobby ineffective, and HB 4104 gets passed and signed by Governor Rick Snyder.  Who could forget last December when the Governor, on the eve of the Newtown, Connecticut shooting, was poised to sign gun legislation that would have broadened and strengthened weapon possession laws, but had a change-of-heart and vetoed the bill.

The open-carry in schools exception came crashing into the media headlights last February when Nicholas Looman, a CPL holder, open carried his pistol into an elementary school in Grand Rapids in order to vote in an election.  He was allowed to vote, then escorted off school grounds and later briefly detained.

Obviously, the 25-year old was looking to make a point.  In the end, the Kent County Prosecutor took a pass on prosecuting Looman, saying he technically complied with state law.  A CPL holder can open-carry a weapon in a public school, day care center or public hospital provided the weapon is visible.

With the recent national headlines as a backdrop, the gun debate has been renewed in Lansing.  Schor's proposed legislation is competing with a senate proposal sponsored by Senator Mike Green (R-Mayville).  It was Senator Green's bill (vetoed SB 59, which now has been re-introduced as SB 112) that was sitting on Governor Snyder's desk when the Newtown shootings broke-out.

We here at the Law Blogger cannot help but conclude that when we enter certain public places, such as schools, day care centers and hospitals, we just need to leave our guns at home.  Along these lines, we hope that Representative Schor's bill will pass the Legislature and be signed by Governor Snyder, and that Senator Green and company goes away.

www.waterfordlegal.com
info@waterfordlegal.com