Michigan lawmakers and gun violence survivors call for action on gun safety reforms

BY ANNA LIZ NICHOLS, MICHIGAN ADVANCE

MICHIGAN—Time is running out on a handful of gun safety bills in the Michigan legislature as the session nears its end this month.

Democratic lawmakers, joined by gun violence survivors and advocates, gathered in the Michigan Capitol Wednesday to call on the Democratic-led legislature to prioritize bills to ban “ghost guns” and bump stocks, as well as implementing other gun safety measures.

Gun violence can come for anyone, Denise Wieck said. No one expects to get a phone call at 3:30 a.m. saying their 17-year-old son has been shot, but Wieck said three and a half years ago it happened to her.

Her son, Guy Boyd, was with a longtime friend, Wieck said, when the friend, another 17-year-old, accidentally shot Boyd in the head with a “ghost gun”, a homemade firearm with no serial number. The friend had built the gun from a kit he was able to purchase online and assemble in 30 minutes.

“No other family should go through what our family went through,” Wieck said, sharing that she and her family, along with doctors, did not believe her son was going to survive his injury. But after a lengthy stay in the hospital, he lived, losing an eye and navigating life with a traumatic brain injury and epileptic episodes.

“Do not sit back idly and think ‘this did not happen to me. This could not happen to me’ because that’s what I thought. ‘This couldn’t happen to me’,” Wieck cationed attendees Wednesday. “Please fight. Do whatever you can. Speak up.”

Senate bills 1149 and 1150 would ban the purchase, possession or distribution of any firearm that is not imprinted with a valid serial number. Currently “ghost guns” can be purchased without background checks and without serial numbers, creating difficulty connecting such weapons to crimes. A person who violates the ban on unserialized firearms could face up to five years in prison for repeated offenses.

Advocates for gun safety policy at the Capitol gathering called for lawmakers to keep up momentum on passing gun reforms while Democrats hold the majority in both chambers. Republicans in the state House won back control in November and will assume leadership of the chamber in January.

Soon after the mass shooting on Michigan State University’s East Lansing campus where three students were killed and several others were injured on Feb. 13, 2023, lawmakers got to work on several gun reforms which went into effect in state law this year, exactly one year after the tragedy.

New policies include background checks on all gun sales in the state, requirements to safely store any firearms and ammunition when minors are present and implementing extreme risk protection orders which allow courts to order the confiscation of firearms from individuals who pose a threat to themselves or others.

“These are legislators who are tired of being afraid that our kids won’t come home from school,” Reverend Chris Yaw of St. David’s Episcopal Church in Southfield said, thanking the lawmakers present at the event. “They understand when I speak for many clergy who are tired of burying children, they know that we are tired of burying children. So today we are here [from] all across the state, to celebrate and support new legislation that will stop the killing because now is not the time to slow down.”

Lawmakers are also interested in advancing legislation to ban bump stocks, devices that enhance semi-automatic firearms to fire at a faster rate, elevating the speed to effectively make it a fully automatic weapon.

This summer, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal ban on bump stocks that had been put in place under president-elect Donald Trump’s previous administration after the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas where a gunman utilized bump stocks to open fire at a concert killing 60 people and injuring hundreds others.

The shooting in Las Vegas lasted for 11 minutes, with more than 1,000 bullets being discharged. Bump stocks make it possible for rifles to fire up to 800 rounds in a minute, according to the gun violence prevention group Everytown’s research arm.

Senate Bill 942 would ban the manufacture, sale, and possession of bump stocks in Michigan. The bill, which sits in the Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety Committee, was introduced by Sen. Dayna Polehanki (D-Livonia) shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision.

“Here in Michigan, it’s a life-or-death matter that we join the 16 other states with policies that ban deadly bump stocks and keep these dangerous devices out of the hands of Michigan residents,” Polehanki said in a news release this summer introducing the bill. “Bump stocks that can turn firearms into illegal, destructive weapons of war should never have a place in our communities.”

And Michigan knows all too well the cost of gun violence, Yaw said, pointing to the deaths of the three students at MSU, Alexandria Verner, 20; Brian Fraser, 20; and Arielle Anderson, 19, as well as the students killed in the Nov. 30, 2021 mass shooting at Oxford High School, Tate Myre, 16; Hana St. Juliana, 14; Justin Shilling, 17, and Madisyn Baldwin, 17.

It’s not enough that Democrats got safe storage bills across the finish line, Rep. Sharon MacDonell (D-Troy) told attendees Wednesday, parents need to be empowered to know the best ways they can protect their children while having firearms in the home.

House Bills 5450 and 5451 call on the state health department to create materials to be distributed by public schools educating on safe storage laws in Michigan and resources on how to access low cost or free trigger locks.

The Oxford High School shooting was enacted by a 15-year-old student, who was sentenced last year to life in prison without parole. In cases against the shooter’s parents for their roles in making the killings possible, the prosecution on the case argued that though a gun safe and a gun lock came with the purchase of the firearm, the lock sat in plastic and the safe had the factory all zeros combination, suggesting neither was ever used to secure the firearm from the child.

The bills cleared the House along party lines last month and will be heard in the Senate Education Committee next week, MacDonell said, reminding the crowd that many police stations and community buildings distribute free gun locks, as well as state health department county offices and local health departments.

Other bills expected to progress next week include legislation to codify Michigan State Police’s current gun disposal practices into law.

After a New York Times investigation in 2023 found that the out-of-state company Michigan State Police used to dispose of firearms the agency confiscated or received in buyback programs was repurposing pieces of weapons for resale in kits, the agency started using an in-state scrap metal processing facility to dispose of firearms.

House bills 6144-6146 eliminate allowances for Michigan State Police to sell or otherwise dispose of firearms without destroying them.

“We want a law that guarantees that Michigan will not be in the business of supplying for the secondary gun market,” bill sponsor on the package Rep. Felicia Brabec (D-Pittsfield) said. “I’m committed to all of you that we will work to make Michigan safer and more and more address the terrible violence that impacts each and every one of us in so many awful, traumatic and tragic ways.”

Lawmakers praised advocates present for their work in applying pressure to systems of power in Michigan, with Rep. Christine Morse (D-Texas Twp.) asking for support for her bill, HB 6064, which would allow Medicaid dollars to go towards Community Violence Intervention (CVI) services around the state.

One package of bills, which aren’t showing signs of movement, concern changing Michigan’s laws to that individuals can file civil lawsuits against gun industry professionals if they “knowingly or recklessly create, maintain, or contribute to a public nuisance through the sale, manufacture, importing, or marketing of a firearm-related product.”

House Bills 6183-6185 mandate manufacturers to “establish and implement reasonable controls” for the sale and distribution of firearm products or risk civil action. Actions that could warrant legal action include reasonable attempts to prevent firearms being outfitted with illegal enhancements and failing to prevent a third party purchasing a firearm for someone who would otherwise not be eligible to purchase a firearm.

These bills are especially necessary to hold gun ranges and stores accountable to existing laws, Gail Duncan of Charlotte said, recalling the 2018 killing of her 25-year-old daughter Rachel.

A gun store in Mason rented out firearms in March of 2018 to Rachel’s ex-boyfriend despite her successfully filing a personal protection order against the man which barred him possessing a firearm. He walked out of the store with the gun, going to Rachel’s work, killing her and then himself.

“He left that building and less than an hour later my daughter was dead,” Duncan said.

No family should have to endure the pain of losing a daughter, Duncan said, and no family should face barriers in seeking justice for a loved one when gun industry stakeholders fail to uphold the law.

READ MORE: Michigan House OKs bills banning guns at polling places, providing more education on safe storage

This coverage was republished from Michigan Advance pursuant to a Creative Commons license.