Senate Bills 584 & 585, which would allow any CPL holder to obtain a general exemption to concealed pistol free zones, and Senate Bill 586, which would clarify that public schools, intermediate school districts, community colleges, public libraries, and other public authorities are local units of government, are expected to be taken up by the Michigan House of Representatives sooner rather than later -as early as next week!

While MCRGO, the NRA, and other firearms law reform activists nearly uniformly support these bills, there are several changes we would like to see in the House to Senate Bill 584. The last minute Senate addition of airport property to the list of pistol free zones should be removed. It appears to have been added to prevent future situations where Open Carry activists have carried on airport property, but it misses the mark by applying only to concealed pistols. We would also like to see the Senate’s ban on intentional display and open carry removed from the bill as the language could be used to prosecute CPL holders who are printing or inadvertently showing a firearm.

Please contact your state representative now to let them know you support Senate Bills 584-586 with the changes noted above. You can find him/her HERE. Some key points:

* 98% of mass shootings occur in pistol free zones because they are target rich locations.

* Pistol free zones don’t prevent people with criminal intent from carrying a gun there.

* The are numerous examples of situations where CPL holders have stopped shootings or prevented them altogether. It happens far more often than many people realize because they aren’t reported like unchallenged mass shootings with high body counts.

* No Michigan CPL holder has ever been mistakenly shot by another Michigan CPL holder or law enforcement in the 17 years Michigan has had shall-issue concealed carry. Michigan has over 600,000 CPL holders who carry daily in busy public settings.

* Michigan CPL holders with a general exemption would be the best trained in the USA!

* The legislation does not negatively impact private property rights.

JUDGE FINDS AGAINST SEATTLE IN PRA CASE FILED BY SAF, MAGAZINE EDITOR

A King County Superior Court judge has ruled in favor of a firearms magazine editor and the Second Amendment Foundation in a case challenging the City of Seattle’s refusal to disclose “gun violence tax” revenues under the Public Records Act (PRA).

SAF filed the lawsuit in September with Dave Workman, senior editor of TheGunMag.com. SAF owns the publication. At issue was the city’s refusal to comply with Workman’s PRA request for revenue collected by the city under its “gun violence tax,” passed by the city council in the summer of 2015.

“We are delighted with the outcome of this case,” said SAF Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, who is also publisher of TheGunMag.com. “It was silly for Seattle to withhold this information, but we’re pretty certain why the city did it. The council was told that this tax could generate between $300,000 and a half-million dollars, but now it appears the city has collected just over $100,000, which is an embarrassing shortfall.

“As a result,” he added, “the city has essentially lost money on this scheme because now they have to pay our attorney fees, plus a small penalty. On top of that, the city has lost tax revenue because one major gun dealer has moved out of the city and another has reported considerable sales losses. That is tax money the city will never realize.” Read more

The Second Amendment Foundation today won a significant court victory against “good reason” requirements for concealed carry when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a permanent injunction against enforcement of such a requirement in Washington, D.C.

The 2-1 ruling, written by Judge Thomas Beall Griffith, a 2005 George W. Bush appointee, declared that, “At the Second Amendment’s core lies the right of responsible citizens to carry firearms for personal self-defense beyond the home, subject to longstanding restrictions…The District’s good-reason law is necessarily a total ban on exercises of that constitutional right for most D.C. residents. That’s enough to sink this law under (the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court’sHeller ruling).”

“Today’s ruling contains some powerful language that affirms what we have argued for many years, that requiring a so-called ‘good cause’ to exercise a constitutionally-protect right does not pass the legal smell test,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “We’re particularly pleased that the opinion makes it clear that the Second Amendment’s core generally covers carrying in public for self-defense.”

The 31-page majority opinion also said that the District’s “good cause” requirement was essentially designed to prevent the exercise of the right to bear arms by most District residents. Thus, it amounts to a complete prohibition, and that does not pass muster under the 2008 Heller ruling that struck down the District’s 30-year handgun ban.

“The good-reason law,” Judge Griffith wrote, “is necessarily a total ban on most D.C. residents’ right to carry a gun in the face of ordinary self-defense needs…”

“To read the majority opinion and not come away convinced that such ‘good reason’ or ‘good cause’ requirements are just clever ways to prevent honest citizens from exercising their rights is not possible,” Gottlieb stated. “To say we are delighted with the ruling would be an understatement. We are simply more encouraged to keep fighting, winning firearms freedom one lawsuit at a time.”

The case is Wrenn v. District of Columbia.

The Second Amendment Foundation (www.saf.org) is the nation’s oldest and largest tax-exempt education, research, publishing and legal action group focusing on the Constitutional right and heritage to privately own and possess firearms. Founded in 1974, The Foundation has grown to more than 650,000 members and supporters and conducts many programs designed to better inform the public about the consequences of gun control.

SAF Sues Michigan Agency Over Civil Rights Violations Against Foster Parents

The Second Amendment Foundation today filed a federal lawsuit against the head of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) on behalf of four Michigan residents, alleging civil rights violations under color of law for enforcing restrictions on the Second Amendment rights of people who want to be foster or adoptive parents.

SAF is joined in the lawsuit by William and Jill Johnson and Brian and Naomi Mason. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, alleges that MDHHS caseworkers told Mr. Johnson, a 100-percent disabled Marine Corps veteran who sought custody of his grandson that he would have to give the agency the serial numbers of all of his firearms. When he questioned this, the caseworkers allegedly told him, “If you want to care for your grandson you will have to give up some of your constitutional rights.” This was after the state asked the Johnsons to be foster parents to their grandson.

Two weeks later, the lawsuit alleges, a Gogebic County Court judge told the Johnsons that if they wanted their grandson placed in their care, “We know we are violating numerous constitutional rights here, but if you do not comply, we will remove the boy from your home.” Read more

The constitutional concealed carry bills shot through the full Michigan House of Representatives on Wednesday, a week after they were approved by the House Judiciary Committee. The legislation, House Bills 4416-4419, received bi-partisan support, each passing with between 4-6 more votes than necessary for a majority.