Michigan Appeals Court Upholds Dismissal of Gun Law Challenge

Michigan passed a lot of gun laws in 2023. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer wanted them from the moment she took office and she finally got them. However, gun rights advocates in the state argue that everything wasn’t done above board. They challenged it based on procedural grounds in state court.

Unfortunately, their case got dismissed.

So, they appealed.

Now, it’s been dismissed a second time, and I’ve got questions.

The Michigan Court of Appeals has upheld a ruling that dismissed a lawsuit against the state Legislature which alleged violations of the Open Meetings Act during committee hearings on several gun reform bills in 2023.

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A Michigan Court of Claims judge determined in November of that year that while the state House had violated the open meetings law, by failing to “enact adequate rules regarding the right to address committees,” the injunction requested by the groups was not warranted and dismissed the suit.

In an opinion issued Tuesday, the appellate court upheld the Court of Claims decision, agreeing that the Legislature’s acceptance of both oral and written communications during the overall hearing process satisfied open meetings law requirements.

“The sole issue before us in this case is whether the trial court erred by deciding that ‘the Legislature intended to allow the public’s right to address public bodies under the OMA to be satisfied through oral and written submissions.’ We conclude that it did not,” said the opinion.

The plaintiffs decried the verdict, calling it a “chilling erosion of transparency and accountability in Lansing.”

That’s probably true.

Yet I’ve got other questions here. See, the lawsuit was a case claiming that the Open Meetings Act. It sounds like rather than let the case proceed where it could be determined in open court, with witnesses and a jury, the court just decided the case on its own. The plaintiffs challenged the law on the basis that the law wasn’t met, and the judges just up and said it was.

How is this remotely right?

Of course, I’m not an attorney, nor did I play one on TV. Maybe this is legit and there’s no issue with this sort of thing at all. I honestly can’t say for certain, but it seems fishy to me.

Both gun rights groups involved in the lawsuit are currently considering their next moves, as I doubt either is interested in the status quo.

However, it should also be remembered that these lawsuits are based on procedural grounds, not the Second Amendment. That avenue is still wide open for all of these measures, which I’m sure is playing in the groups’ minds.

With luck, if the procedural attack doesn’t work, the Second Amendment front will pay some dividends.

Either way, Michigan’s gun control needs to crash and burn. Universal background checks, in particular, are nothing more than a way to create a backdoor gun registry, and we all know it. But if they didn’t follow the law while passing it, then the law is illegitimate on that front alone.

I wish them luck with whatever follows. I know something will follow, though, because this stuff simply can’t be allowed to stand without a fight.