Working well into the night Wednesday, House Democrats in Michigan narrowly passed legislation expanding the scope of gun control to require background checks and registration for all firearms purchases, not just handguns.
At about the same time, Democrats in the Washington State House of Representatives were also passing legislation to ban the future sale of so-called “assault weapons” and require training and a 10-day waiting period on the purchase of a firearm.
According to the Detroit News, two other proposals related to “red flag” actions and a requirement for so-called “safe storage” remain in committee.
House Bill 4138 passed along party lines on a 56-53 vote. Republicans cautioned that the legislation would not have prevented the recent triple-slaying at Michigan State University, but only burden law-abiding citizens. State Rep. Neil Friske described the 24-page bill as confusing and punitive, the Detroit News noted.
The newspaper said the bill includes an exemption for firearms used for hunting if the user is under the age of 21.
The Detroit Free Press confirmed in its report that “Democrats had planned to introduce gun safety legislation before the mass shooting at Michigan State University Feb. 13 which killed three students and injured five others, but lawmakers said the events at Michigan State spurred the introduction of a series of bills addressing background checks, safe storage laws and extreme risk protection orders, sometimes called ‘red flag’ laws.”
This underscores the suspicion that Democrats used the MSU event to push an agenda already in place.
As in Washington State, Democrats in Lansing are using their majority to press gun laws while they have the momentum to do it. Gun control is being pushed this year by several Democrat-controlled legislatures.
The Detroit News reported that HB 1438 “exempts from background checks any long guns and rifles currently in possession, ‘grandfathering’ those firearms in, and exempts long guns and rifles obtained through a transfer among family members.”
But critics are concerned about the expanded registration “for all firearms purchases.” Gun registration has long been a major concern among many Second Amendment advocates who believe it is done for only two ultimate purposes, to either “tax them or take them.”
Proponents of the gun control bill say the proposed mandates amount to “common sense.” Rep Jaime Churches, a Wyandotte Democrat, was quoted by the Detroit News arguing that the bill’s language is aimed at keeping guns out of criminal hands, and represents a simple “inconvenience” to law-abiding gun owners.
Out in Washington, the Seattle Times reported that Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee was in the House chamber, watching the vote on House Bill 1240, which turned out 55-42 with some Democrats crossing the aisle to vote with Republicans against the measure. The vote occurred “shortly before 8:30 p.m.,” the Times report noted.
Inslee, an anti-gunner since his time in Congress, reportedly shook hands with members of the Seattle-based Alliance for Gun Responsibility, a billionaire-backed gun prohibition lobbying group which has been pressing for the ban for several years.
“This is a very important vote. It is something that I’ve believed in since 1994 when I voted to make this federal law,” Inslee said.
He reportedly stated passage of the legislation signaled the “NRA’s lock on Washington” had been broken by the Democrat-controlled Legislature.
The measure bans the future sale, manufacture and transfer of so-called “assault weapons,” which are actually modern semiautomatic sport/utility rifles, and the most popular rifle in America today, gun rights activists contend.
The vote on semi-auto rifles came one day after House Democrats also pushed through an amended version of Engrossed Second Substitute House Bill 1143, also on an after-dark vote. A provision in the original bill to require a permit-to-purchase was removed Tuesday night, but remaining are the waiting period and a mandate to show proof of firearm safety training within the previous five years.
