Michigan Senate committee OKs ‘ghost gun’ regulations

A state Senate committee adopted legislation Tuesday that would implement new firearm restrictions meant to make it easier to trace homemade guns assembled from kits or 3D-printed parts. The bills would also ban bump stocks, which allow semi-automatic guns to behave much like automatic weapons, firing multiple rounds with one continuous trigger squeeze.

The bills cleared the Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee on party-line votes and were sent to the Senate floor.

The homemade or 3D-printed guns that are the subject of the legislation are often called “ghost guns” because they are so difficult to identify and track. The proposed regulations would require gun parts to be printed with serial numbers so they can be tracked if they are recovered after being used in a crime.

“It is simply too easy for criminals and other prohibited people to access ‘ghost guns,’” said Senator Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak). “They turn to these firearms because they know they can’t buy them legally or because they know they intend to use such weapons to commit crimes and they wish for these weapons to be untraced.”

The bills were taken up by the committee less than a week following the shooting death of a health insurance executive on the streets of Manhattan by an assailant who, according to the criminal complaint, used a 3D-printed gun and silencer.

“Ghost guns are crime guns,” said Jessica Ojeda with the Giffords Law Center. “These firearms bypass critical background checks and serialization requirements, giving access to those who should be prohibited from owning a gun, including minors, traffickers, domestic abusers and violent criminals.”

Representatives of gun rights organizations say the requirements of the legislation would be easy to evade and are probably unconstitutional.

Tom Lambert of Michigan Open Carry said the bills would not have stopped the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City, which is known for tight gun laws.

“So, are we saying that if that person had to put a serial number on that firearm that none of that would have happened?” said Lambert. “Is that the argument we want to advance here today? Is that really the complete absence of logic that we’re operating under?”

Lambert, an attorney, said he thinks the bills would also be open to constitutional challenges if signed into law. Many of the legislation’s requirements would be phased in over time to avert illegal seizure complaints.

The Legislature is in the final days of the “lame duck” session and no decisions have been made on taking up the bills before its end. Gun restrictions will have a tougher slog in the Legislature next year, when the Michigan House will shift from Democratic control to a Republican majority.