The Michigan House passed four bills on Wednesday, June 7th, that effectively would reform Michgan gun law to make Constitutional Carry legal in the state.
People who where not prohibited from owning firearms would be able to carry weapons concealed without special government permission. From mlive.com:

LANSING, MI — Michiganders would no longer need a concealed pistol license to carry a concealed pistol under legislation approved by the Michigan House of Representatives on Wednesday.

House bills 4416 through 4419 strike the requirement that a Michigander have a license to carry a concealed weapons. People banned from possessing firearms would be banned from carrying them as well. The bills also reduce penalties for certain infractions relating to carrying a pistol without proper identification or disclosure as well.

Michigan isn’t the only state where Constitutional Carry bills are moving.

Both North Carolina and Wisconsin have bills that are contenders. The Constitutional Carry movement has been picking up the pace in the last decade. The billionaires that fund the anti-Second Amendment movement only have so much money, so much time.

When you rely on paid professionals to testify, when you have only five percent of the numbers in the grass roots that the pro-gun rights side can muster, you need money.  From a Grass Roots North Carolina email alert about the omnibus gun law reform bill that includes Constitutional Carry:

Big-buck, Anti-gun Lobbyists Descend on Raleigh

While grass roots gun owners like you are busy making a living, paid lobbyists hired by a New York billionaire, pushing for New York-style gun control, are working behind the scenes in our legislature. It’s true, we now know that anti-gun astroturf groups, funded by Michael Bloomberg, employ lobbyists in our state capital.

We can only guess what these lobbyists are whispering in the ears of our Representatives, but we can be sure Bloomberg’s minions are not pushing to advance your rights.

In a perfect world, it would never be the case, but in the world we live in, well-funded anti-gun lobbyists may be enough to make some Representatives go weak-kneed on gun rights. For this reason, now more than ever, we need to remind our representatives who the actual voters are, and remind them that we’re not kidding.

Money can do a lot. But when you are up against strong grass roots opponents in several states at once, those resources can be stretched thin. Even big money has a hard time with weak arguments. Here’s the latest one in Michigan, from  mlive.com, Rep Jewell Jones, D-Inkster:

“What about the young black and brown men, men like me, who are killed every day?” he asked.

Rep. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, said he found that comment ironic because historically gun laws were established to keep black and brown people from owning guns. And he was among a handful of supporters who made the argument that Michiganders can already open carry guns with no training or permit.

I wonder if Rep Runestad asked any of the young black and brown men in his district if they thought it just that they should be disarmed in dangerous neighborhoods?

The four bills In Michigan will move to the Senate. If they pass there, they go to Governor Rick Snyder. Governor Snyder has a mixed record on support for the Second Amendment. But with weak arguments like those offered by Rep Jones, he just might sign.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included. Gun Watch

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19 COMMENTS

  1. This is Snyder’s last chance to leave a real conservative legacy. He’s made allot of mistakes in the past and MUST get this right.

    • Agree.. I don’t think i’ll ever ‘like’ him but this could move my opinion a good bit. Hey my CPL is almost up for renewal.. maybe it will save me 100 bucks? 🙂

  2. The fight for constitutional carry is alive and well in Indiana, as well. Jim Lucas’s HB 1159 from the 2017 session is headed to a summer study, with most LEO/ISA complaints rendered moot by the recent Indiana Supreme Court Pinner decision (carry of a firearm, absent particularized suspicion of unlawful activity afoot, does not justify an investigatory detention, search, or seizure).

    We have made measurable headway over the past three sessions. Expect a legitimate push for passage in the next session.

  3. As someone from “up north” I am hear to testify and affirm that Michigan is unique in both the quality and quantity of A-holes it produces…it even bests Texas, which is no easy feat. My educated and experienced guess is a resounding NO!

    • All the assholes come from ann Arbor and points east. The west side and the U.P have their heads on straight.

      The switchblade ban was struck down, I like our chances with constitutional carry.

      • All the assholes come from ann Arbor and points east. The west side and the U.P have their heads on straight.

        There, fixed that for you!

        • G.R. is pretty conservative….or at least it was before it became one of the fastest growing cities in the US.

          Lansing is a shithole, i’ll give you that.

  5. not a chance. Snyder is an Ann arbor liberal who couldn’t win a democrat primary , so he used his personal fortune to win the republican primary with 3 good conservatives. These Conservatives destroyed each other, and in Michigan’s open primaries, lots of democrats voted for him. He is no more a republican than Michael Bloomberg.

  6. Same issue in NC. House did pass the bill. Senate may pass it – R controlled and they really hate the D Governor. Of course Cooper, the Governor, really hates the legislature and is just about a guaranteed veto (IMO). Maybe there would be enough votes to override. I don’t know. I have not followed closely but there is local sheriff opposition because let’s face it, these bills undercut their finances and their little power trips.

  7. “I wonder if Rep Runestad asked any of the young black and brown men in his district if they thought it just that they should be disarmed in dangerous neighborhoods?”
    Sadly, he would almost certainly be called a racist for even daring to engage them on such a sacrosanct issue as gun control

  8. The billionaires that fund the anti-Second Amendment movement only have so much money …

    For all intents and purposes, Bloomberg alone has an infinite supply of money. Consider this last year when he coughed up $50 million for his civilian disarmament minions and campaigns. At that rate Bloomberg could keep up the effort for over 1,000 years! (Bloomberg is worth $51 billion.)

    And it gets even uglier if you look at five prominent billionaires who are NOT friendly about firearm ownership:
    Bill Gates — $89 billion
    Jeff Bezos — $86 billion
    Mark Zuckerberg — $64 billion
    Michael Bloomberg — $51 billion
    Paul Allen — $20 billion

    These five billionaires are worth a combined $310 billion. If they all contributed just 5% of their net worth to a civilian disarmament war chest, that would total $15.5 billion dollars. In other words, just those five men could fund over $500 million every year for the next 30 years to disarm us.

    And then they could cough up another 5% or so to simply purchase and then shut down most of the firearm manufacturers in the U.S.

    Make no mistake: these unelected billionaires are a SERIOUS threat to our nation’s well being.

  9. I don’t think lib billionaires would buy out firearm manufacturers to scuttle them because it can’t be used as a tax write off.

    What’s the status of the MI bill to remove the requirement to register handguns? Is there such a requirement for long guns in MI?

    • Col. Sanders,

      According to online sources, there is no requirement to register long guns in Michigan.

      • You are right, no registration of long guns. And the registration of handguns should go as well. This is Michigan, not California or M assachusetts.

        Snyder better do right by the gun owners, or the next Republican to run, Bill Shuttee will have a hard time of it.

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