Bill Would End Michigan Pistol Registration Requirement

LANSING, MI — Pistol registration would become optional under a bill introduced last week in the Michigan Legislature. The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Lee Chatfield, a Levering Republican, said Michigan is one of only six states that require handgun registration, and the law does little to fight crime.

“There is no need for state government to maintain an exhaustive list of law-abiding citizens who legally purchase pistols,” Chatfield, speaker pro-tem of the Michigan House, said in a news release. ““Criminals don’t register handguns they misuse for wrong, so what we end up with is a list that intrudes on the civil liberties of honest gun owners.”

Chatfield’s bill would make pistol registration optional, eliminate the $250 fine for failure to register handguns and allow previously registered pistol owners to request their information be removed from a registry maintained by the Michigan State Police. The current law makes it illegal for Michiganders to purchase, carry, possess or transport a pistol without having obtained a license.

House Bill 4554 has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee.

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Photo by Ken via Flickr Commons