PETITION CLOSED

  • The time period for signing this petition has ended.
Michigan Attorney General Opinion on MCL 750.224
  1. Signatures
    1,205 out of 3,000
    Petitioning
    1. The Governor of MI (+ 3 others)
      Petitioning
      close
      • The Governor of MI
      • The MI State Senate
      • The MI State House
      • Michigan Attorney General
  2. Created By
    Daren Iott
    Monroe, MI
About this Petition Petition Letter Petition Updates

Representative Mark Meadows of the 69th District has officially submitted a request for Attorney General Schuette's opinion on this matter.  Now, according to MCL 14.32 "It shall be the duty of the attorney general, when required, to give his opinion on all questions of law submitted to him by the legislature..."  Hopefully, we should find out what the Attorney General's opinion is regarding suppressors soon.  Check out the request here.

Please don't stop signing this petition though until we have officially received an Attorney General opinion.  Your signatures continue to let every elected official know that we are still here and we still want our questions answered.

__________________________________________________________________________________

Signing the petition will email your representative so they know their constituents want change.

This is not a partisan Democrat/Republican or even pro-gun/anti-gun issue, it is quite simply about Michigan laws being ambiguous.  We would like the ambiguity cleaned up and to recognize and conform to BATFE authority in registering National Firearms Act restricted items as more than 37 states already do.

Automatic weapons and “silencers”: many people believe you should not be allowed to own such devices and many people believe you should.  These items are regulated federally by the National Firearms Act and needless to say that the hoops you have to jump through to get such a device are so EXTREME that no criminal would ever undertake the procedure.  Criminals will always get guns and they will NEVER do it according to the law, thus laws do NOT pertains to criminals.  We need not debate the merits of gun control here because the fact is, federally these items are, in fact… perfectly legal.

 

Preamble:

Michigan law 750.224 bans automatic weapons, suppressors, billy clubs, and a number of other things.  This same law provides an exception in section 3(c) where you may own these items if properly licensed by the federal government.

Problem:

Michigan law fails to define what "licensing" means.

Federal:

As far as the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) is concerned all you need to do is file and get approved BATFE form 5320.4 to own any item restricted by the National Firearms Act (NFA).

Halfway There:

The Michigan Attorney General issues opinion 7183 stating that in Michigan, approval of BATFE form 5320.4 constitutes a license... for a "machine gun".  If form 5320.4 approval is a license for an automatic weapon, then why is it not a license when it is approved for other NFA regulated items?

Action:

We are asking that the Michigan Attorney General issue an official opinion regarding the other “restricted” items banned by MCL 750.224 indicating, that if an item is properly registered by the BATFE, it is considered to be licensed in the state of Michigan.  We are also calling upon the Michigan state legislature to update Michigan's law to recognize the federal authority of the BATFE and NFA registration as legal licensing in Michigan.

 

Please don't forget to share this.  Feel free to print flyers and hang them at any local busy (with owners permission), of course gun ranges and dealers would be ideal places.  Also, share this on any other forums you can.  You can use these shortened url's to make it easier to tell people where to go!

http://tinyurl.com/misuppressor, http://tiny.cc/suppressor, http://tiny.cc/michigangun

Download and print or customize your own 'Take One' flyers!

Layout 1 [Word Doc], Layout 1 [PDF]

Layout 2 [Word Doc], Layout 2 [PDF]

Layout 3 (Full Page) [Word Doc], Layout 3 (Full Page) [PDF]

Why People Are Signing
Recent Signatures

Michigan Attorney General Opinion Regarding MCL 750.224

Greetings,

We request you, as the Michigan Attorney General, provide a ruling regarding Michigan law 750.224 as it pertains to sound suppression devices and other NFA regulated items. Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox issued Opinion 7183, stating that in his opinion possession of automatic weapons did not violate Michigan state law provided the weapon was properly registered under the National Firearms Act (NFA) registration procedure (BATFE Form 5320.4). No ruling was made regarding this same law as it pertains to sound suppressors or other NFA regulated items.

Regarding Opinion 7183 an excerpt reads "Although the application and registration scheme provided for under the federal laws and regulations discussed above do not result in the issuance of a document labeled "license,"[3] the Form 4 application and resulting approval process bears all the hallmarks of licensure. The permission granted by the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to transfer and possess a machine gun is the official authority required in order to avoid the federal proscription.” While AG opinion 7183 explicitly states "machine guns" it neglects to mention sound suppression devices; wouldn't the opinion that approval under Form 4 constitutes a license also apply to legal possession of a suppressor or other NFA regulated items under Form 4 'licensing'?

Furthermore, we request a ruling on the above law as it pertains to an individual’s right to manufacture a firearm or related device (suppression device) under the National Firearms Act. Does approval of BATFE Form 5320.1 constitute 'licensure' to construct a firearm or related device? If it does in fact constitute a license then, would not under state law (part 3(c) of MCL 750.224), an individual be legally allowed to both construct and possess a firearm or related device(i.e. sound suppressor) under proper approval of Form 5320.1?

--

You as the state legislature have the ability to change our unclear laws. You as the legislature can make our laws simpler for your constituency by simply recognizing BATFE registration as proper and legal licensure in the state of Michigan. Suppressors are legal in Ohio, Indiana and more than 35 other states. In those states automatic weapons are legal as well because they realize that registration and indeed licensing by the BATFE if applied to automatic weapons must also apply to suppressors. Only 1 state allows automatic weapons but not suppressors. It is clear that our laws need to be refined to allow for approval of registration under the BATFE and NFA regulations to constitute a legal license in the state of Michigan. Please recognize that the citizens of this state and elsewhere want and need our laws to not only be clear but also to conform to the intentions when originally drafted. It is clear to most people that section 3c of 750.224 is intended to provide an exception in the case of licensure from the federal government. More than 37 other states recognize the BATFE authority in authorizing possession of NFA items, shouldn't ours? Those of us who legally abide by the law and practice our second amendment rights sincerely ask for your help in bringing Michigan up to date.

Thank You,



[MCL 750.224]: http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?mcl-750-224
[Opinion 7183]: http://www.ag.state.mi.us/opinion/datafiles/2000s/op10259.htm

This petition is sent on behalf of the signed, however any further contact regarding legislation or official request for attorney general opinion should be directed to the petition originator at dareniott@gmail.com.

[Your name]

Press Inquiries