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Last Monday, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed sweeping bills stripping gun rights for non-violent offenders. She argued the gun violence bill package is necessary to protect lives threatened by domestic violence.
The bills ban individuals convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence from buying, owning, or transporting firearms for eight years after sentencing.
But the bills also cover many nonviolent felonies and misdemeanors, including breaking into vending machines and parking meters; tampering with electronic tethers; property squatting; polluting; recording in a movie theater; and joyriding.
All told, the bills force gun and ammo bans on more than 100 legal scenarios not involving domestic violence.
Rep. Josh Schriver (R-Oxford) opposed the bills. Prior to the House of Representatives’ vote on the bill package, he noted several specific misdemeanor infractions that would result in individuals losing their right to defend themselves with the firearm for more than eight years, including:
- A girl pushing or shoving her former roommate at a college reunion.
- An ex-girlfriend using her key to get into her boyfriend’s house to get her things without his permission.
- An ex-girlfriend smashing her boyfriend’s pumpkins on his front porch.
- An ex-girlfriend egging her boyfriend’s house and accidentally breaking a window.
- An ex-girlfriend repeatedly calling her ex-boyfriend.
“I don’t recommend doing any of the above — they’re crimes — but they’re petty misdemeanors and shouldn’t cause individuals to become sitting ducks for violent criminals by losing their right to defend themselves for more than eight years,” Schriver said.
As federal courts have already struck down prohibitors for non-violent felonies, there is a strong likelihood these prohibitors for non-violent misdemeanors will face legal challenges.
Source: The Midwesterner 11.21.23
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