Posted: 10/8/2013 11:24:28 AM EDT
| Alright everyone, Ill be moving to Midland, MI in a couple weeks school me in what I need to know. Gun laws are my main concern but ill take any useful info. I just hope I dont have to register all my guns or anything crazy like that. Well I hope MI isnt full cause I am coming anyways. |
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Welcome to the state.
No SBR's You do not need to register your long guns You do need to register your pistols We are an open carry state Reciprocity with many other states. CCW is a crime the license to carry is a CPL here so learn the term though it is not a huge issue but good to know. |
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Handguns do need to be registered, unfortunately. That, and the CPL process are my only real complaints about the gun laws here.
I've found the HandgunLaw.us pdf to be an accurate summary. www.handgunlaw.us/states/michigan.pdf |
Welcome to Michigan! The gun laws here aren't too bad, you could do way worse. Since 2011 we can now own silencers I wasn't aware of the sensitivity over the use of CCW vs CPL I'm in Sterling Heights which is only 6 miles north of the Detroit city limit and I hear lots of people use CCW in reference to their carry permit, myself and friends included. Isn't the CPL nomenclature relatively new? I still see ads for CCW classes. Sorry, I don't mean to hijack the thread I was just curious.
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| Thanks for the info. Here in AR it’s a CPL as well, so I am use to that. Really dont want to take another concealed carry class since I just paid to renew mine here, to bad they cant waiver people that have a license from a state that they have reciprocity with. |
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Something makes me want to say you have to be a resident for 6 months prior to getting a CPL, but that may be wrong or may have changed sine 2000/2001... I saw that too, but they can waive the requirement but don't have to. So I guess I could be out of a license for 6 months plus however long it takes to approve. 
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I wasn't aware of the sensitivity over the use of CCW vs CPL I'm in Sterling Heights which is only 6 miles north of the Detroit city limit and I hear lots of people use CCW in reference to their carry permit, myself and friends included. Isn't the CPL nomenclature relatively new? I still see ads for CCW classes. Sorry, I don't mean to hijack the thread I was just curious.It is relatively new. Last few years I believe. It was done in an attempt to clarify that the license is only good for concealing a pistol, and does not allow you to conceal any weapon you wish. |
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I saw that too, but they can waive the requirement but don't have to. So I guess I could be out of a license for 6 months plus however long it takes to approve. Quoted:
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Something makes me want to say you have to be a resident for 6 months prior to getting a CPL, but that may be wrong or may have changed sine 2000/2001... I saw that too, but they can waive the requirement but don't have to. So I guess I could be out of a license for 6 months plus however long it takes to approve. The time frame used to be 4 to 6 week turnaround on licenses. Most counties simply send the license in the mail if you pass the background check and have a properly completed application. Macomb County (borders Detroit on the north) is a hassle and makes all applicants appear in person before the gun licensing board. It is merely a formality as they simply ask you about 5 questions that you already answered on the application, and then lastly they ask if you've ever felt your life was in danger in the past 6 months and if you wished you had a method to defend yourself in that situation. But it's always in the middle of the morning on a weekday so you're forced to take time off of work to go get your license. Anyways, that's likely not the case in the county you're moving to. |
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Welcome to the state. No SBR's Also, no SBS's You do not need to register your long guns You do need to register your pistols We are an open carry state No license required for open carry. However, any loaded handgun in a vehicle (there's debate whether this applies to open vehicles like motorycles, ATVs, dirt bikes, and snowmobiles as well) is considered concealed. Even if the handgun is on the front passenger seat, in plain view, it is still concealed per the law. Reciprocity with many other states. We do not honor non-resident permits. So, once you become a resident, your out-of-state CPL is no longer valid. CCW is a crime the license to carry is a CPL here so learn the term though it is not a huge issue but good to know. That's the basics. MGs, suppressors, and AOWs are GTG with the usual forms. Many CLEOs here will sign the forms if you need. MI has preemption for firearms laws. No subdivision of the state shall make or enforce stricter laws on firearms than already exist at the state level. This has been used in court to strike down municipal ordnances that violate preemption. See Royal Oak's Arts, Beats, and Eats festival, circa 2010 (I think 2010?). Signs on personal property banning the carry of firearms do not carry a crime for violation. You are however trespassing and subject to criminal trespass, but the violation of the sign itself does not bring a charge in itself. In my opinion, concealed is concealed, and leave if you're asked to leave. You may hear talk of Michigan pistols in your time here. Those are a subset class of rifles that have an OAL between 26" and 30" and a 16"+ barrel. While these are classified as rifles federally, for a time Michigan required them to be registered as pistols. This allowed people to carry them concealed, mainly used to keep loaded rifles in trucks, a.k.a. truck guns. This law was changed 1 Jan. 2013 to realign with the standard federal firearms definitions. Those MI pistols that were registered prior are grandfathered, but if/when they are transfered, they are transfered as rifles and lose the MI pistol status. Basically, MI pistols won't pertain to you, but it could be nice to know what they are for discussion purposes. Not firearms, but our knife laws can be confusing. This article is the best article I've seen discussing our knife laws. Basically, any knife besides automatic knives are legal to own. All knives that are legal to own are legal to open carry. As a generalization, stabbing instruments/knives are illegal to concealed carry. Handgunlaw.us has a very nice document with a brief summary of knife laws by city and state. Midland, MI does not appear on their list, so it would seem Midland follows state law. That's all I've got for now. I wish there was a multi-quote feature on this board. 
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I saw that too, but they can waive the requirement but don't have to. So I guess I could be out of a license for 6 months plus however long it takes to approve. Quoted:
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Something makes me want to say you have to be a resident for 6 months prior to getting a CPL, but that may be wrong or may have changed sine 2000/2001... I saw that too, but they can waive the requirement but don't have to. So I guess I could be out of a license for 6 months plus however long it takes to approve. I think I might have been the first person to take advantage of the waiver when it went into effect. I had to appear in front of the Kent County gun board, and 2 of the members didn't even know that law had been implemented. Take the class as soon as you can, then put in your application and provide a copy of your current AR CPL. Midland County has been pretty good with the CPLs in recent years, I'm from Midland and still have family there. There are a few places nearby that offer the class. Midland County Sportsman's Club, Bay County Sportsman's Club, Williams' Gun Shop in Auburn, and probably a few others. I'd recommend Williams' just to make it easy. |
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Welcome!
Have you been to Michigan much? We have some fantastic shoreline and the further north you go the more beautiful it gets. You're already half-way there in the Midland area, just a short hop to the rural northern part of the state. Do you hunt? Fantastic archery and firearm hunting for whitetail deer here, spring and fall turkey season, great small game hunting, great fishing, and you can even put in for bear and elk. We even had our first wolf hunt this year. 
eta: Midland - chemical engineer? Just a guess. 
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We also have great beer. That may be an understatement though. True. But that varies in what part of the state you're in. Local breweries are a huge deal on the West side of the state, whereas the Tri cities, not so much. Midland is a very nice city. The people are a little stuck up. Good school system there. An interesting amount of social class diversity. Midland county has very poor and very affluent which contrasts with the surrounding area which is mostly just poor. I keed, but seriously...
Gun laws have been covered so I'll touch on other good things to know. My favorite local gun shop is Williams gun shop in Auburn, really good guys. There is also Jay's in Clare, which is similar to a Cabela's but can be pricey. Midland in general has a good amount to do. They have minor league baseball, some museums and stuff, and is in close proximity to pretty good fishing and hunting. Restaurants in the area are really lackluster though. Don't know the area you're coming from but compared to a Detroit or Grand Rapids the Tri cities just don't offer the same culture, if you're into that kind of stuff. |
| If I'm in the area my favorite gun shop to visit is Williams Gunsight Company in Davison. I usually go there with my buddys before a trip to "The Pit" which is an informal shooting range in Lapeer. |
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Lots of great info guys. I'm not a chemical engineer and won't be working at DOW I just got out of the Army and will be going to school while the wife works for the school district. It looks like I will be only minutes away from Midland County Sportsman Club so hopefully I can get a membership there and use the 600m range. Also what's the median price of diesel up there? Hoping it's under $4 a gallon or the truck might have to go.
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Lots of great info guys. I'm not a chemical engineer and won't be working at DOW I just got out of the Army and will be going to school while the wife works for the school district. It looks like I will be only minutes away from Midland County Sportsman Club so hopefully I can get a membership there and use the 600m range. Also what's the median price of diesel up there? Hoping it's under $4 a gallon or the truck might have to go.MCSC was a good basic range back in the day. I hear I wouldn't recognize it now with the improvements made over the last several years. They used to have some rules with the 600 yard range, where you basically had to show you were close to a 600 yard zero at 100 yards, and then were capable of hitting the target at 600, and do it a few times, then you could use it unsupervised. Not too big of a deal, just something to be aware of, if it still exists. We shot a lot of rounds at those targets! |
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Lots of great info guys. I'm not a chemical engineer and won't be working at DOW I just got out of the Army and will be going to school while the wife works for the school district. It looks like I will be only minutes away from Midland County Sportsman Club so hopefully I can get a membership there and use the 600m range. Also what's the median price of diesel up there? Hoping it's under $4 a gallon or the truck might have to go.Wait a minute, you mean to tell me people that don't work for Dow live in Midland??? 
Diesel looks to be just under $3.90 in Midland. Here's a nice website for tracking fuel prices. Make sure when you search for a city, you also put the state. Even though the site is michigangasprices.com, if you don't include ", MI" after the city it'll find that city in some random state which won't help you. So search for "Midland, MI" and you can view current prices for regular, mid grade, premium, and diesel. I've found it to be pretty accurate in the Metro Detroit area at least. |
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MCSC was a good basic range back in the day. I hear I wouldn't recognize it now with the improvements made over the last several years. They used to have some rules with the 600 yard range, where you basically had to show you were close to a 600 yard zero at 100 yards, and then were capable of hitting the target at 600, and do it a few times, then you could use it unsupervised. Not too big of a deal, just something to be aware of, if it still exists. We shot a lot of rounds at those targets! Quoted:
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Lots of great info guys. I'm not a chemical engineer and won't be working at DOW I just got out of the Army and will be going to school while the wife works for the school district. It looks like I will be only minutes away from Midland County Sportsman Club so hopefully I can get a membership there and use the 600m range. Also what's the median price of diesel up there? Hoping it's under $4 a gallon or the truck might have to go.MCSC was a good basic range back in the day. I hear I wouldn't recognize it now with the improvements made over the last several years. They used to have some rules with the 600 yard range, where you basically had to show you were close to a 600 yard zero at 100 yards, and then were capable of hitting the target at 600, and do it a few times, then you could use it unsupervised. Not too big of a deal, just something to be aware of, if it still exists. We shot a lot of rounds at those targets! I would assume a lot of ranges require you to qualify before using the longer ranges beyond 100 yds. Blue Water Sportsman Association in Port Huron I believe requires you to be able to demonstrate to an RO that you can hit a 10" target at 100 yds. before they allow you to shoot the 200 yd. range. 600 yd. ranges are not something your average person can just walk out and shoot. A lot of novice shooters probably can't even be left unsupervised on a 600 yd. range. It would be too easy to send a round downrange in a bad direction (over the top of the berm, past the side of the berm, etc.). |
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Also what's the median price of diesel up there? Hoping it's under $4 a gallon or the truck might have to go. Just looked on Gas Buddy and it's running low $3.80's- $3.99/ gal. Welcome to the mitten. I'll 3rd the snow blower. I heard this winter is going to be a bastard. |
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Welcome to Michigan! The gun laws here aren't too bad, you could do way worse. Since 2011 we can now own silencers I wasn't aware of the sensitivity over the use of CCW vs CPL I'm in Sterling Heights which is only 6 miles north of the Detroit city limit and I hear lots of people use CCW in reference to their carry permit, myself and friends included. Isn't the CPL nomenclature relatively new? I still see ads for CCW classes. Sorry, I don't mean to hijack the thread I was just curious.I teach I CPL class but in my advertising I refer to it as a CCW class, because that is what people know. I tried calling it CPL before, and I just kept getting people asking what a CPL was. They know what CCW means, they have no idea what CPL means.
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Alright everyone, Ill be moving to Midland, MI in a couple weeks school me in what I need to know. Gun laws are my main concern but ill take any useful info. I just hope I dont have to register all my guns or anything crazy like that. Well I hope MI isnt full cause I am coming anyways. Midland is not kid-friendly if you're not a PhD with perfect children. I grew up there. Don't raise a family in that town. There's an underlying evil that destroys the soul. |
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Midland is not kid-friendly if you're not a PhD with perfect children. I grew up there. Don't raise a family in that town. There's an underlying evil that destroys the soul. Quoted:
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Alright everyone, Ill be moving to Midland, MI in a couple weeks school me in what I need to know. Gun laws are my main concern but ill take any useful info. I just hope I dont have to register all my guns or anything crazy like that. Well I hope MI isnt full cause I am coming anyways. Midland is not kid-friendly if you're not a PhD with perfect children. I grew up there. Don't raise a family in that town. There's an underlying evil that destroys the soul. Dont like the sound of that, since I have a 2 year old. Could you expand on that a little more. Hearing all you guys talk about this being a really bad winter has me a little nervous, since I pretty much hate snow more than anything in the world. Ahh the things I do for love. |
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Dont like the sound of that, since I have a 2 year old. Could you expand on that a little more. Hearing all you guys talk about this being a really bad winter has me a little nervous, since I pretty much hate snow more than anything in the world. Ahh the things I do for love. Quoted:
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Alright everyone, Ill be moving to Midland, MI in a couple weeks school me in what I need to know. Gun laws are my main concern but ill take any useful info. I just hope I dont have to register all my guns or anything crazy like that. Well I hope MI isnt full cause I am coming anyways. Midland is not kid-friendly if you're not a PhD with perfect children. I grew up there. Don't raise a family in that town. There's an underlying evil that destroys the soul. Dont like the sound of that, since I have a 2 year old. Could you expand on that a little more. Hearing all you guys talk about this being a really bad winter has me a little nervous, since I pretty much hate snow more than anything in the world. Ahh the things I do for love. 1. Cops are schoolyard bullies. 2. Teachers would rather embarrass a student than help them. 3. If you don't have a college degree, you're nothing. |
| If you hate snow then you may have reason for concern, though the geography of the Saginaw valley seems to direct much of the snowfall to places other than Midland. Besides the weather Midland has much to offer the family, especially for a city of it's size that is basically surrounded by farmland and forest. I've lived in Midland for over 45 years and as a teen I was constantly bored with Midland, but after maturing and settling down at bit I recognize it as a good safe place to live and raise a family. There are a plethora of churches and faith based organizations which are active in the community, as well as a number of community foundations supporting projects for the area. The Midland Center for the Arts does a decent job of bringing exhibits and performers to Midland, and there is no bad seat in it's auditorium. There are walking and biking trails, an abundance of organized sporting opportunities to participate in, and we even have a little airport if that is your thing. My experience with the Midland Sportsman's Club is mixed and I haven't been a member for years, but it is conveniently located and reasonably priced. |