Posted: 5/3/2008 4:27:15 AM EDT
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Lets not forget that the requirement that the applicant send in the purchase permit form in 10 days to the MSP is still in the proposed bill AND they have also ADDED that the penalty is now a misdemeanor. As the law now stands the penalty is unclear or only a $50 state civil infraction. We must encourage our Senators to let it remain a civil infraction like other failure to report offenses (such as theft in MCL 28.430). We can't agree to making misdemeanor criminals out of you and me if we don't send in the form in ten days. Failure would also make one ineligible for a CCP under MCL 28.425b(7)(h)(xxix). We need to keep what we have--no criminalization of a failure to report. I should also point out that the reporting requirement has nothing to do with fighting crime, or safety, etc. Please note that in your comments. |
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Thank You Kerry for noting this problem. We do need to keep our lobbying effort to amend SB 371 - the legislation to eliminate the "safety inspection" amended to legalize SBR and SBS. Let's also ask for the elimination of the registration! Activists please follow the link for the bill sponsors and what you can do about it. ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=8&f=39&t=306927 The penalty for failure to comply with sending in the permit to purchase a handgun to the Michigan State Police within 10 days should be eliminated all together. Fact of the matter is the idea to eliminate the safety inspection should include the registry as well. If we're going to do away with the safety inspection lets do away with the registration to the State Police too! In lieu of that position then the only thing that would be acceptable is a minor civil infraction with no more impact than a simple traffic offense. |
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The permit to purchase a handgun i.e. green card and bringing your pistol in to the PD to be "safety inspected" is a defacto handgun registration scheme and has been current law for a looong time. The reforms the legislature is proposing i.e. eliminating the safety inspection is a new idea. We want to use this new Senate legislation SB 371 as the vehicle to reform the SBR SBS statute. What we also want to do is eliminate the mail in registration and or penalty. Handgun safety inspection elimination will mean you would not have to present your pistol in person at the police department like you have to now but you would have 10 days to mail the info in or face a violation and or fine. I also thought they were to destroy all green card registrations after one year. Could be differences between the house and senate versions. The house version has been passed. The Senate versions are SB 370 and 371 to be passed jointly I believe. |
I'm confused, is this new? |
If you buy from a individual and use the white three copy form you must mail a copy the MSP. The green form is different I believe. They do the mailing for you. |
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The house version 4490 as passed requires the purchaser to "return 2 copies of the license to the licensing authority within 10 days following the purchase of the pistol AFTER THE DATE THE PISTOL IS PURCHASED. THE RETURN OF THE COPIES TO THE LICENSING AUTHORITY MAY BE MADE IN PERSON OR MAY BE MADE BY FIRST CLASS MAIL OR CERTIFIED MAIL SENT WITHIN THE 10-DAY PERIOD TO THE PROPER ADDRESS OF THE LICENSING AUTHORITY. A PERSON WHO FAILS TO RETURN THE COPIES OF HIS OR HER LICENSE TO THE LICENSING AUTHORITY WITHIN THE 10-DAY PERIOD SET FORTH IN THIS SUBSECTION IS GUILTY OF A MISDEMEANOR PUNISHABLE BY IMPRISONMENT FOR NOT MORE THAN 90 DAYS OR A FINE OF NOT MORE THAN $100.00, OR BOTH. So according to the House, the entire process would be the same as it is now except the permit to purchase would be in quadruplicate (rather than triplicate) and the purchaser would have the duty to send a copy of the pistol permit reflecting the serial number of the pistol he just bought, to the licensing authority rather than taking the pistol physically to the authority and having it "safety inspected." If the purchaser did not send the paperwork in in TEN DAYS, he is guilty of a MISDEMEANOR. Under current law MCL 28.429(2) "A person who presents a pistol for a safety inspection under subsection (1) shall ensure that the pistol is unloaded and that the pistol is equipped with a trigger lock or other disabling mechanism or encased when the pistol is presented for inspection. A person who violates this subsection is responsible for a state civil infraction and may be ordered to pay a civil fine of not more than $50.00." It is ambiguous if the 50 dollar fine only applies to bringing a loaded pistol in to the PD or one not encased (i.e., your stupid), or if it applies to someone who just never returns to get it inspected. SO, LET US UNDERSTAND the situation. The House Bill is unacceptable. If you mail the document in you know it will get lost and never recorded. If you take it in and hand it to the officer at the desk, then what's the difference between that and a safety inspection? Its only that the PD can no longer visually check to see if that serial number is correctly recorded from the gun. Now they are taking the seller and buyers word on it, but you still have to submit the paperwork registering, YES registering the weapon and if you don't and the PD later finds you in possession of a pistol the sale of which was not mailed in in ten days, you will be charged with a misdemeanor. So the House version is suicide. And HB 4491 relating to SBR/SBS does nothing substantively. I will address the Senate version in a follow up document. |
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Sounds like typical Michigan style reform. Got a problem? We're here full time to help. Solve it? Hell no....there's good money to be made from prolonging the process by adding steps and paperwork, increasing the cost to citizens, giving the state a loophole to claim "not it", and thereby increasing the number of citizens who can be considered criminals by the state. Makes perfect sense. We need more obstructed bowels in this state. |
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RIGHT ON MICHMAN1 - Kerry - great analysis as usual! Thank You! We will need to make sure the proper parties are apprised of our concerns and insist the offending section be removed in conference committee should the Senate Bills be passed. I'm hoping the Senate Judiciary Committee will hold another public hearing on the issue. Finally - just stay active on the action list of contacting the Senators who have sponsored SB 370 and 371 in this thread - in particular State Senator Alan Cropsey! ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=8&f=39&t=306927 |