HOUSE BILL No. 5076

 

August 1, 2007, Introduced by Rep. Nitz and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.

 

     A bill to amend 1927 PA 372, entitled

 

"An act to regulate and license the selling, purchasing,

possessing, and carrying of certain firearms and gas ejecting

devices; to prohibit the buying, selling, or carrying of certain

firearms and gas ejecting devices without a license or other

authorization; to provide for the forfeiture of firearms under

certain circumstances; to provide for penalties and remedies; to

provide immunity from civil liability under certain circumstances;

to prescribe the powers and duties of certain state and local

agencies; to prohibit certain conduct against individuals who apply

for or receive a license to carry a concealed pistol; to make

appropriations; to prescribe certain conditions for the

appropriations; and to repeal all acts and parts of acts

inconsistent with this act,"

 

by amending sections 2 and 9 (MCL 28.422 and 28.429), section 2 as

 

amended by 2004 PA 101 and section 9 as amended by 2004 PA 100.

 

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:

 

     Sec. 2. (1) Except as provided in subsection subsections (2)

 


and (8), a person shall not purchase, carry, or transport a pistol

 

in this state without first having obtained a license for the

 

pistol as prescribed in this section.

 

     (2) A person who brings a pistol into this state who is on

 

leave from active duty with the armed forces of the United States

 

or who has been discharged from active duty with the armed forces

 

of the United States shall obtain a license for the pistol within

 

30 days after his or her arrival in this state.

 

     (3) The commissioner or chief of police of a city, township,

 

or village police department that issues licenses to purchase,

 

carry, or transport pistols, or his or her duly authorized deputy,

 

or the sheriff or his or her duly authorized deputy, in the parts

 

of a county not included within a city, township, or village having

 

an organized police department, in discharging the duty to issue

 

licenses shall with due speed and diligence issue licenses to

 

purchase, carry, or transport pistols to qualified applicants

 

residing within the city, village, township, or county, as

 

applicable unless he or she has probable cause to believe that the

 

applicant would be a threat to himself or herself or to other

 

individuals, or would commit an offense with the pistol that would

 

violate a law of this or another state or of the United States. An

 

applicant is qualified if all of the following circumstances exist:

 

     (a) The person is not subject to an order or disposition for

 

which he or she has received notice and an opportunity for a

 

hearing, and which was entered into the law enforcement information

 

network pursuant to any of the following:

 

     (i) Section 464a(1) of the mental health code, 1974 PA 258, MCL

 


330.1464a.

 

     (ii) Section 5107 of the estates and protected individuals

 

code, 1998 PA 386, MCL 700.5107, or section 444a of former 1978 PA

 

642.

 

     (iii) Section 2950(9) of the revised judicature act of 1961,

 

1961 PA 236, MCL 600.2950.

 

     (iv) Section 2950a(7) of 1961 PA 236, MCL 600.2950a.

 

     (v) Section 14 of 1846 RS 84, MCL 552.14.

 

     (vi) Section 6b(5) of chapter V of the code of criminal

 

procedure, 1927 PA 175, MCL 765.6b, if the order has a condition

 

imposed pursuant to section 6b(3) of chapter V of 1927 PA 175, MCL

 

765.6b.

 

     (vii) Section 16b(1) of chapter IX of 1927 PA 175, MCL 769.16b.

 

     (b) The person is 18 years of age or older or, if the seller

 

is licensed pursuant to section 923 of title 18 of the United

 

States Code, 18 USC 923, is 21 years of age or older.

 

     (c) The person is a citizen of the United States and is a

 

legal resident of this state.

 

     (d) A felony charge against the person is not pending at the

 

time of application.

 

     (e) The person is not prohibited from possessing, using,

 

transporting, selling, purchasing, carrying, shipping, receiving,

 

or distributing a firearm under section 224f of the Michigan penal

 

code, 1931 PA 328, MCL 750.224f.

 

     (f) The person has not been adjudged insane in this state or

 

elsewhere unless he or she has been adjudged restored to sanity by

 

court order.

 


     (g) The person is not under an order of involuntary commitment

 

in an inpatient or outpatient setting due to mental illness.

 

     (h) The person has not been adjudged legally incapacitated in

 

this state or elsewhere. This subdivision does not apply to a

 

person who has had his or her legal capacity restored by order of

 

the court.

 

     (i) The person correctly answers 70% or more of the questions

 

on a basic pistol safety review questionnaire approved by the basic

 

pistol safety review board and provided to the individual free of

 

charge by the licensing authority. If the person fails to correctly

 

answer 70% or more of the questions on the basic pistol safety

 

review questionnaire, the licensing authority shall inform the

 

person of the questions he or she answered incorrectly and allow

 

the person to attempt to complete another basic pistol safety

 

review questionnaire. The person shall not be allowed to attempt to

 

complete more than 2 basic pistol safety review questionnaires on

 

any single day. The licensing authority shall allow the person to

 

attempt to complete the questionnaire during normal business hours

 

on the day the person applies for his or her license.

 

     (4) Applications for licenses under this section shall be

 

signed by the applicant under oath upon forms provided by the

 

director of the department of state police. Licenses to purchase,

 

carry, or transport pistols shall be executed in triplicate upon

 

forms provided by the director of the department of state police

 

and shall be signed by the licensing authority. Three copies of the

 

license shall be delivered to the applicant by the licensing

 

authority.

 


     (5) Upon the sale of the pistol, the seller shall fill out the

 

license forms describing the pistol sold, together with the date of

 

sale, and sign his or her name in ink indicating that the pistol

 

was sold to the licensee. The licensee shall also sign his or her

 

name in ink indicating the purchase of the pistol from the seller.

 

The seller may retain a copy of the license as a record of the sale

 

of the pistol. The licensee shall return 2 copies of the license to

 

the licensing authority within 10 days following the purchase of

 

the pistol.

 

     (6) One copy of the license shall be retained by the licensing

 

authority as an official record for a period of 6 years. The other

 

copy of the license shall be forwarded by the licensing authority

 

within 48 hours to the director of the department of state police.

 

A license is void unless used within 10 days after the date of its

 

issue.

 

     (7) This section does not apply to the purchase of pistols

 

from wholesalers by dealers regularly engaged in the business of

 

selling pistols at retail, or to the sale, barter, or exchange of

 

pistols kept as relics or curios not made for modern ammunition or

 

permanently deactivated. This section does not prevent the transfer

 

of ownership of pistols that are inherited if the license to

 

purchase is approved by the commissioner or chief of police,

 

sheriff, or their authorized deputies, and signed by the personal

 

representative of the estate or by the next of kin having authority

 

to dispose of the pistol.

 

     (8) This section does not prohibit a nonresident from carrying

 

or transporting a pistol that he or she lawfully brought into this

 


state for his or her own use if both of the following apply:

 

     (a) The individual is licensed in his or her state of

 

residence to purchase, carry, or transport a pistol.

 

     (b) The individual is in this state for a period of 180 days

 

or less and does not intend to establish residency.

 

     (9) (8) The licensing authority shall provide a basic pistol

 

safety brochure to each applicant for a license under this section

 

before the applicant answers the basic pistol safety review

 

questionnaire. A basic pistol safety brochure shall contain, but is

 

not limited to providing, information on all of the following

 

subjects:

 

     (a) Rules for safe handling and use of pistols.

 

     (b) Safe storage of pistols.

 

     (c) Nomenclature and description of various types of pistols.

 

     (d) The responsibilities of owning a pistol.

 

     (10) (9) The basic pistol safety brochure shall be supplied in

 

addition to the safety pamphlet required by section 9b.

 

     (11) (10) The basic pistol safety brochure required in

 

subsection (8) (9) shall be produced by a national nonprofit

 

membership organization that provides voluntary pistol safety

 

programs that include training individuals in the safe handling and

 

use of pistols.

 

     (12) (11) A person who forges any matter on an application for

 

a license under this section is guilty of a felony, punishable by

 

imprisonment for not more than 4 years or a fine of not more than

 

$2,000.00, or both.

 

     (13) (12) A licensing authority shall implement this section

 


during all of the licensing authority's normal business hours and

 

shall set hours for implementation that allow an applicant to use

 

the license within the time period set forth in subsection (6).

 

     Sec. 9. (1) A Except as provided in subsection (2), a person

 

within the state who owns or comes into possession of a pistol

 

shall, if he or she resides in a city, township, or village having

 

an organized police department, present the pistol for safety

 

inspection to the commissioner or chief of police of the city,

 

township, or village police department or to a duly authorized

 

deputy of the commissioner or chief of police. If that person

 

resides in a part of the county not included within a city,

 

township, or village having an organized police department, he or

 

she shall present the pistol for safety inspection to the sheriff

 

of the county or to a duly authorized deputy of the sheriff. If the

 

person presenting the pistol is eligible to possess a pistol under

 

section 2(1), a certificate of inspection shall be issued in

 

triplicate on a form provided by the director of the department of

 

state police, containing the name, age, address, description, and

 

signature of the person presenting the pistol for inspection,

 

together with a full description of the pistol. The original of the

 

certificate shall be delivered to the registrant. The duplicate of

 

the certificate shall be mailed within 48 hours to the director of

 

the department of state police and filed and indexed by the

 

department and kept as a permanent official record. The triplicate

 

of the certificate shall be retained and filed in the office of the

 

sheriff, commissioner, or chief of police. This section does not

 

apply to a wholesale or retail dealer in firearms who regularly

 


engages in the business of selling pistols at retail, or to a

 

person who holds a collection of pistols kept for the purpose of

 

display as relics or curios and that are not made for modern

 

ammunition or are permanently deactivated.

 

     (2) This section does not apply to a pistol brought into this

 

state by a nonresident under section 2(8).

 

     (3) (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.