Michigan House Republicans introduce bills to repeal gun safety laws
The newly proposed legislation would remove the state’s red flag laws from the books only one year after they went into effect.
Extreme risk protection orders, more commonly known as red flag laws, allow law enforcement to temporarily confiscate firearms from people that have been deemed a threat to themselves or others, potentially saving lives.
Republicans in the Michigan House of Representatives are now working to repeal Michigan’s red flag laws. Rep. James DeSana, a Carleton Republican, introduced a bill package on Feb. 26, saying red flag laws are a violation of individuals’ Second Amendment rights.
“These poorly written laws strip away our rights without the opportunity for individuals to defend themselves,” DeSana said in a statement.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the red flag legislation into law in 2023 as part of a comprehensive package of Democratic-backed gun reform bills. In addition to the red flag laws, the bill package included legislation expanding background checks for all firearm purchases and requiring safe storage to prevent guns from getting into the hands of children.
At the time, gun control advocates and survivors of Michigan’s two recent mass shootings — the 2021 shooting at Oxford High School and the 2023 shooting at Michigan State University — urged lawmakers to pass the legislation in order to prevent further gun violence.
The laws went into effect in February 2024. Since then, a total of 391 extreme risk protection orders have been filed, with judges granting 287 of those requests for the temporary removal of firearms, according to a report recently released by the Michigan State Court Administrator Office. At least 31 people who had guns removed from their possession were charged with a crime within 30 days after the orders were filed, including domestic violence, assault and resisting arrest.
“Extreme risk protection orders save lives. They buy loved ones time to intervene and prevent an unthinkable tragedy when someone is faced with a moment of crisis,” said Sen. Mallory McMorrow, a Royal Oak Democrat who sponsored the red flag legislation, in a statement criticizing Republicans’ newly proposed bills.
About half of the House GOP caucus signed on as sponsors of the legislation to repeal the red flag laws. It was sent to the House Judiciary committee, where it currently awaits a hearing. Even if the bills pass out of the House, it’s unlikely that they will receive the necessary votes in the Democratic-controlled Senate to make it to the governor’s desk.
Gun violence has long been a public health issue in the United States. Nearly 47,000 people died from gun-related injuries in 2023, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, and gun-related suicide rates have reached an all-time high.
Bishop Bonnie Perry of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan said in a statement released by End Gun Violence Michigan that many members of her congregation have lost loved ones who had died by suicide with a firearm. She said if the red flag laws had been in place then, their family members would still be alive.
“Repealing this law would take away their chance to save their spouse, their sibling, their child from suicide,” Perry said. “That would be cruel, callous, and dangerous.”
