LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – Late Last Week, Democrat Senators introduced several bills that include designs for stricter gun legislation in Michigan. 

Senate Bills 0076, 0077, 0078, 0079, 0080, 0081, 0082, 0083, and 0084 substantiate many of the Democrat claims that new legislation has been in the works and would be delivered soon, including from Attorney General Dana Nessel who recently was advocating for stricter probation procedures and Extreme Risk Protection Orders. 

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“What if we had laws in place where you could turn in a family member and know that that person wasn’t necessarily going be arrested or prosecuted but you certainly would want to be able to remove guns from a person who really is not in a legal state or mental mind frame to be possessing those weapons,” Nessel said.  

Both SB 0077 and SB 0078 contain tie bars with SB 0076’23 – a device to condition the effectiveness of legislation on the enactment or passage of other specified legislation.  Similarly, SB 0080 is tie-barred with SB 0079, and SB 0084 has a tie bar with SB 0083.  Interestingly, SB 0083 is tie-barred with both SB 0084 and SB 0086.  The bills have been referred to a committee for consideration. 

A Detroit Free Press piece indicated that House Speaker Joe Tate and Senate Majority Leader Brinks expect these gun reform bills to pass, and Tate expects bipartisan support in the house.  

“We have seen these tragedies,” he said, “And they are going to continue if we do not intervene.” 

Just days after the shooting at Michigan State University, many House Democrats called for gun reform, and U.S. Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin (D-Lansing) encouraged the crowd at the MSU student rally from the Capitol steps  last week, to look up and call their elected officials about gun legislation. 

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“You can be a responsible gun owner, we all know them,” Slotkin said, “And that’s fundamentally different from a group of elected leaders who will not physically come to a table to negotiate.” 

“And I am calling out my peers from the other side of the aisle, if you will not come to the table to negotiate, you will be out of office a year from now,” she said. 

As of Monday morning, one of Michigan’s Second Amendment advocacy groups, Great Lakes Gun Rights, promised to work to begin recalling anti-gun politicians. 

“Michigan Democrats are charging ahead with anti-gun proposals that would make California blush,” said Brenden Boudreau, Executive Director for Great Lakes Gun Rights in a statement. “We urge Michigan Democrats to drop their politically motivated gun control push and for Republicans to oppose all these bills. If they do not relent, we’re preparing to work with local activists and voters in districts across the state to recall any lawmaker who votes for these gun control bills.”  

The group takes issue with several of the types of legislation that has been introduced including universal background checks, Red Flag proposals, and safe storage laws. 

 “Red Flag gun confiscation orders allow an old roommate, ex-spouse, ex-girlfriend, or ex-boyfriend to file for an order against someone with very little evidence, and strip someone of their rights without due process. The so-called ‘universal background checks’ bills are de facto universal gun registration and will make it illegal to loan a close relative or friend a shotgun for hunting. Finally, the storage laws disarm law-abiding Michiganders in their own homes and are probably already unconstitutional under the Heller decision,” said Boudreau.

The group citing Chapter 18 of the Michigan Election Law argues that elective officers in the state, except judicial officers, are subject to recall by the voters of their districts.