Michigan Gun Control Advocates Celebrate Law That Accomplishes Nothing

I’m not going to say it’s impossible to find someone who thinks it’s a terrible idea to keep firearms secured when they’re not in use. I’ll just say that to do so, you’re really going to have to work at it. The point of difference might be when they should be secured precisely–some have very different ideas of what “in use” might mean–but virtually everyone knows they probably should.

So it’s funny that a Michigan law seeks to remind people to keep guns locked up by sending something home from their kids’ schools.

And the anti-gun crowd is celebrating it.

Gun control advocacy groups are celebrating Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s decision to sign a package of bills requiring schools to inform parents of the state’s new safe storage requirements for firearms.

Michigan’s safe storage laws require that any firearms in homes or vehicles with children, even if the children are visiting or the guns belong to visitors, be stored in a safe or with a lock.

The safe storage requirements went into effect last year, but advocates say that the regulations will only be effective if gun owners are aware of them.

Under new laws signed last week by Whitmer, schools will be required to distribute information designed by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services each October, beginning in the 2025-26 school year.

“It’s not just a good idea; it’s not just a suggestion; it’s the law,” said End Gun Violence Michigan Executive Director Ryan Bates. “You must safely store your firearms, and if someone is harmed with a gun that you didn’t lock down, the gun owner can be prosecuted for felonies.”

“That’s a stiff penalty, because the consequences of unsecured firearms are so great,” Bates said.

Yet this is making assumptions that really don’t have any kind of basis in reality.

First, most people know they should lock up their guns, regardless of what the law says. In this regard, reminding people that it is the law is probably not the worst thing in the world.

The issue, though, is that this isn’t likely to do nearly as much as many like to claim.

Think about it. If schools are required to send a notice home, when are they going to do it? Probably on the first day of school, right? That’s the same day schools send home piles of paperwork for parents to fill out, notices for them to read, and so on. They get so much dropped on them that they’re unlikely to remember much of anything from it. They probably won’t even read what’s sent home.

So if the issue is prevention, don’t expect a lot to happen here.

Further, the people who represent a real problem aren’t going to give a damn. They’re not going to be moved and they’ll keep doing what they’ve been doing because they’re part of that group of people who actually don’t think anything of securing their guns.

Of all the things Michigan has done, this isn’t exactly the most egregious infringement on people’s civil liberties. However, it’s likely to turn into a waste of taxpayer money that yields absolutely no change in what’s going to happen going forward, and that makes it a problem all on its own.