A pro-gun bill in Michigan passed the Republican-led House this week and now moves on to the Senate for consideration. House Bill 4458 would significantly reduce the penalties imposed on gun owners with expired concealed-carry licenses.
Under the current Michigan law, gun owners caught carrying a gun with an expired license are slapped with a felony charge and up to five years in prison. By contrast, residents driving with an expired license are hit with a misdemeanor charge and a $100 fine.
H.B. 4458 would reduce the potential five-year prison sentence to a $330 fine. The fee would be waived, however, if the license is renewed within 60 days of the violation.
The AP reported that the bill overwhelmingly passed by a 82-26 vote. "This is common sense legislation that I feel is long overdue," bill sponsor Rep. Shane Hernandez said.
When a panel of three judges from the District of Columbia Circuit Court ruled over the summer that the Second Amendment protected the right to carry firearms in public, it destroyed the legal justification for D.C.'s "good reason" requirement for concealed carry licenses. The local government appealed for an en banc hearing before the entire circuit court, but the court has now declined to revisit the case.
The Washington Post also reported that the court's decision means D.C. will no longer be able to enforce its strict controls on issuing concealed-carry permits. The city may request a hold on the ruling while it determines whether to submit the case to review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Campus carry is currently legal in 11 states, and in the 15 years since the first law was passed, there have been exactly zero incidents. But the facts aren't standing in the way of six anti-gun Georgia university professors, who are seeking an injunction to overturn the state's new campus carry law.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the professors filed a complaint Monday in the Fulton County Superior Court against Gov. Nathan Deal, who signed campus carry into law in May, and Attorney General Chris Carr. The instructors claim the state's campus carry law, which went into effect July 1, could lead to an uptick in firearm accidents and suicides, would pose a danger to students and faculty, and could have a chilling effect on classroom debate—in other words, the same tired warnings that have proven untrue time and again.
We'll keep you updated as this situation continues to develop.
New Jersey Sen. Loretta Weinberg, who introduced the state's notorious "smart" gun mandate and later opposed her own legislation, is hardly a model lawmaker. Yet that didn't stop The Daily Beast from celebrating her series of ruinous gun-control blunders with a bizarrely congratulatory puff piece.
"Go, Loretta!" shouts the article tag before we even get to the headline. If it had been intended as an invitation to try a different career, we would be able to agree. Instead, the Beast embraces Weinberg's self-portrayal as a tragic hero whose "quite reasonable" mandate met inexplicable opposition. "Much to my chagrin, the law was adopted by the NRA and the Second Amendment people as to why we should never develop a smart or child-proof gun," she says.
The whole thing is worth checking out if you'd like to see the Beast fall over itself arguing that Weinberg made a positive impact without actually accomplishing anything. And by the way, there are multiple references here to the dreaded "Second Amendment people." We thought people who respected the freedoms enshrined in the Bill of Rights were called … Americans?
Note to criminals: If you plan a home invasion, always make sure to bring a friend with a car.
WAND-TV reports that police responded to a 911 call about an intruder inside a Springfield, Ill., residence on Wednesday, just after lunchtime. When they arrived, the homeowner told investigators he had heard someone forcing his way into the house, so he grabbed his firearm and shot the invader.
Almost simultaneously, officers discovered a man had been dropped off at the Memorial Medical Center with an obvious gunshot wound. That suspect is currently in stable condition, awaiting his arrest.