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Michigan has new gun and school safety laws on the books after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer put her signature on bills Wednesday that passed in the previous legislative session.
“Michiganders should feel safe whether they’re watching a movie at home or heading into the classroom,” Whitmer said in a statement Wednesday. “Each of these bills build on my administration’s commitment to protecting Michiganders and their families.”
Here are the bills she signed into law:
Gun buyback program
House Bills 6144, 6145 and 6146 requiring the complete destruction of firearms turned over to the Michigan State Police through gun buyback programs that aim to curb gun violence by allowing gun owners to relinquish their weapons.
Lawmakers introduced the legislation after an investigation by The New York Times found that the Michigan State Police was the biggest client of a company that destroyed only some parts of firearms through buyback programs and sold the rest, enabling a secondary firearms market.
Democratic lawmakers passed the legislation over GOP opposition.
School safety package
House Bills 4095, 4096, 5549, 5659 and 5660 establish new school safety policies recommended by a bipartisan task force over two years ago that formed in the wake of the Oxford High School shooting. House Bills 4095 and 4096 require schools to implement standardized terms for responding to emergencies, with the aim of improving communication during such events.
By the fall of 2026, House Bill 5549 requires school boards to have a behavior threat assessment and management team in place that includes a school administrator, mental health professional and law enforcement official tasked with probing reports of alarming behavior in a school community and identifying credible threats.
House Bills 5659 and 5660 create a new school safety and mental health commission to offer policy recommendations related to youth suicide prevention, school building construction to ensure safety on campus and more.
Schools to provide info regarding the safe storage of firearms
House Bills 5450 and 5451 would require the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to compile an informational notice for schools to disseminate to parents about Michigan’s new law requiring the safe storage of firearms in the presence of children. Michigan’s new safe storage requirement aims to keep guns out of the hands of children. It creates new criminal penalties when a child injures or kills themselves or others with an unsecured firearm.
Firearms were the leading cause of death for Michigan children, according to 2022 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from 2022, analyzed by researchers at Johns Hopkins’ Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Michigan’s hate crime law
House Bills 5400 and 5401 expand Michigan’s hate crime law, broadening it to encompass sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age and ethnicity. The legislation would also allow courts to impose a sentence requiring offenders to complete community service work meant to deepen their understanding of the community they affected.
Sextortion
House Bills 5887 and 5888 make sextortion illegal in Michigan. The law defines sextortion as a threat to create or disseminate sexually explicit images or videos of another person to coerce them. The new law makes a first offense a felony punishable by up to five years’ imprisonment and/or a $5,000 fine, with increased penalties for subsequent offenses. For adults victimizing minors, vulnerable adults or someone who suffers serious mental or physical harm because of the sextortion, they’d be guilty of a felony punishable by up to 25 years’ imprisonment. A minor who engages in sextortion is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year imprisonment.
Michigan Legislature:Michigan Senate’s Democratic Leader prepares to take legal action against House
Sentencing commission
House Bills 4173 and 4384 create a Michigan Sentencing Commission to research the effectiveness of current sentencing guidelines and recommend new ones. Michigan prisoners serve some of the longest average sentences in the U.S., according to a 2017 study by the Urban Institute.
Whitmer also signed bills that extend the statute of limitation for some criminal sexual conduct charges, provide Medicaid coverage to injured patients referred to receive assistance from a community violence prevention service and increase the funding municipalities receive for providing ambulance services to Medicaid recipients.
Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743.
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Governor Gretchen Whitmer has approved a new set of gun and school safety laws in Michigan, aimed at promoting responsible gun ownership and protecting students.
The new laws include measures such as requiring background checks for all firearm purchases, implementing a red flag law that allows for the temporary removal of firearms from individuals deemed a threat to themselves or others, and increasing penalties for individuals who fail to properly secure their firearms from minors.
In addition to these gun control measures, the new laws also focus on improving school safety. This includes funding for mental health resources in schools, requiring active shooter drills, and implementing technology to improve communication during emergencies.
Governor Whitmer stated that these laws are a crucial step towards creating a safer and more secure environment for all Michigan residents, especially students. She emphasized the importance of balancing Second Amendment rights with the need for common-sense gun regulations to prevent gun violence.
Overall, these new laws represent a significant milestone in Michigan’s efforts to address gun violence and enhance school safety. It is hoped that these measures will help prevent tragic incidents and protect the well-being of all residents in the state.
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