Those Michigan Mandatory Storage Laws are Working Out Swell

After the Oxford shooting, you just knew Michigan was going to pass a mandatory storage law. They did.

The issue with mandatory storage laws, though, is that the households you typically need to worry about are also the households where it’s not going to matter for whatever reason. Criminal teens have access to guns through illegal means as it currently stands, and that means parents would have to search their rooms daily in hopes of catching them with one–and even then, they may not keep them at home.

Then you have the households that just aren’t that worried about their children, and I don’t mean that in a good way.

For example, we have this Michigan household.

A 5-year-old child had to be disarmed by police after answering the front door holding a loaded handgun in Michigan. 

The child opened the front door carrying the armed weapon to a cadet who came to serve a subpoena at the property on Inn Road on Saturday, Jan. 25, the Battle Creek Police Department stated in a news release.

“The cadet called for a road patrol officer after the child initially answered the door with a large kitchen knife,” police said, per the release. “When the cadet asked the child to have an adult come to the door, the child returned with the loaded handgun, which the cadet removed.”

Road patrol officers arrived and found two men and a woman inside the residence. They were detained and taken into custody for questioning. 

According to the release, five children, aged 6 months to 8 years old, were also located inside the home. They were placed under Child Protective Services over the incident and “deplorable condition” of the property. 

One child was transported to Bronson Battle Creek Hospital and then later a hospital in Kalamazoo over health concerns, according to authorities.  

“Officials are pursuing weapon charges and neglect charges through the Calhoun County Prosecutor’s Office,” police said. 

The father of the woman arrested claims that she was living there with the father of one of the kids and one of the father’s friends. He also claims she’d called the police regarding her being beaten previously and the report claims a man was arrested for “domestic violence-related crimes” on January 12th.

So, clearly, this was a household that would have never shown up on an episode of Cops.

Now, one of the issues I have with mandatory storage laws is that sometimes, kids do need access to firearms to defend themselves from violent criminals. We’ve seen those cases before. Some are properly trained and mature enough to shoulder that responsibility.

As a general thing, though, a five-year-old who opens the door to police with first a knife, then a gun in his hands is probably not going to be the kind of kid we’re talking about here. 

But here’s the thing to remember. This is Michigan, which just went through a whole thing about mandatory storage of firearms, and this household clearly didn’t have the gun secured in any way. A five-year-old was able to gain access. A 15-year-old knowing the combination or knowing where the key to the lockbox is would be one thing, but a child that age likely doesn’t have any of that.

The law accomplished nothing. It did nothing. It didn’t stop this incident, which could have become far more tragic. Why? Because, as I said, the people you need to worry about aren’t going to follow the law anyway.

They never have and never will.

It just creates issues for those who were never an issue in the first place.