Michigan to end Ban on Some Rifles and Shotguns

Senate Bill 610 has passed both the House and the Senate, and is headed to Governor Snyder.   The bill will end nearly a hundred years of a pointless ban on the possession of short barreled rifles and shotguns.  The Governor has said that he will sign the bill.  From the  mcrgo facebook page:

 Regardless, Governor Snyder has indicated he will sign SB 610. The bill will have immediate effect upon his signature. The photo here with Sen. Mike Green is for illustrative purposes only and is not Green's SB 610.

It has been suggested that the Michigan ban served as the template for the weird ban by regulation and tax on short barreled rifles and shotguns that exists in the National Firearms Act of 1934.   The Michigan ban was passed in 1931.  This new law defers to the 1934 Federal law as it exists now, allowing possession of the short barreled rifles and shotguns, if registered under the NFA.   NFA 1934 was upheld in the infamous Miller decision.  

In 1931,Michigan had only recently required police permission to buy pistols.  It has been argued that this was in response to the successful defense of his household by Dr. Ossian Sweet.

A ban on short barreled rifles and shotguns only makes sense if pistols are as highly or more highly regulated.  If a person can legally own pistols and rifles and shotguns, a ban on short barreled rifles and shotguns makes no sense at all.

The removal of the ban in Michigan is part of the trend to remove these obsolete infringements on the second amendment.   A removal of the excessive federal regulation and taxation on short barreled rifles and shotguns would be rational and welcome, so it is not likely to happen with the current administration in power.

©2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
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