Proponents sold the package, signed into law Monday, to combat domestic violence, and certainly there are many cases in which those convicted on such charges should lose their Second Amendment rights for a time.
But there are many non-violent crimes that have nothing to do with domestic incidents that are now swept up by the new law. That’s due to the change in the previous Michigan law that applied to crimes punishable by up to four years of imprisonment.
The state now automatically revokes gun rights for individuals convicted of felonies for a minimum of three years to follow the completion of their sentence. It can be up to five years for those convicted of “specified felonies” that most often involve violence.
And the new law covers non-violent and misdemeanor offenses among those that cancel gun rights.
For example, persons convicted of lobbying and campaign finance wrongdoing will lose their right to keep and bear arms. Those who possess aquatic or non-aquatic prohibited species, sell a lottery ticket, pass a bad check valued at a minimum of $100, take a picture of a dead human body in a grave, work as a home contractor without a license, alter a reverse vending machine and several others fall under the new law.
What these offenses have to do with domestic violence and why they now result in losing gun rights is anybody’s guess.
Again, the push was sold as an effort to protect the vulnerable from domestic violence — certainly a noble cause. Michigan Gov Gretchen Whitmer (D) signed the package of three bills this week and celebrated their effects.
“Keeping Michiganders — especially young women — safe and healthy is a top priority, and these bills will take long overdue steps to protect individuals from abuse. As a former prosecutor and as governor, I am proud to sign this bipartisan legislation to prevent abusers from accessing firearms.”
The three bills revamp state sentencing guidelines to guarantee that anyone convicted of domestic violence-related crimes, including misdemeanor offenses, are banned from purchasing or possessing firearms or ammunition for eight years after the conclusion of their sentence.
The move is just the latest against gun rights to follow Gretchen’s party assuming full control of the legislature and governor’s mansion for the first time in nearly four decades.
The new slim majority rammed through universal background checks, a so-called “red flag” law and new gun storage requirements just within the past year.
Gun rights advocates fear there may be even more on the horizon.
There is a specific reason the new laws swept up a bevy of offenses previously not covered in restricting gun rights. According to Senate Bill 471, Michigan’s definition of a felony offense is now “a violation of a law of this state, or of another state, or of the United States that is punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year.”
This brings the state in line with the standard employed by the federal government. However, it marks a sharp deviation from the previous Michigan code.
Many state lawmakers took offense to the push by the majority to bring as many offenses under the umbrella of losing gun rights as possible. Rep. Graham Fuller (R) charged that package proponents “drew this bill as broadly as possible to take gun rights away from as many people as possible, and then claimed it was all about domestic violence perpetrators.”
That, of course, was the goal all along.
It is one thing to target violent domestic abusers — no one disagrees that this segment of the population should not be armed. It is another to sweep up as many non-violent misdemeanor offenders as possible under the misrepresented goal to protect the innocent.
This is simply a backdoor way to further disarm the public.
