Michigan Gun Laws - A Case Study

I just want to inform our readers about some interesting information I came across while working on a case.  I have a client facing an Aggravated Unlawful Use of Weapon charge in DuPage County.  The client is a Michigan resident.  He was pulled over on the highway by an Illinois State Trooper for speeding.  As the trooper was giving my client a ticket, my client voluntarily told the trooper that he had a gun in his car.  The trooper pulled him out of the vehicle and discovered an unloaded gun under a pile of clothes on the driver's seat and a magazine with bullets in the glove compartment.  I am in the process of trying to get the charges reduced with the prosecutor because my client has absolutely no criminal background, owns a business in Michigan and completely cooperated with the police.  My client gave me some documents from Michigan which support his argument that he had the legal right to own the firearm in Michigan.  As I did some research on Michigan's gun laws I came across some interesting information that I would like to share with our readers.  Keep in mind that we are not licensed to practice law in Michigan.  This information is not intended to be legal advice.

Unlike in Illinois, a license to own a firearm is not required in Michigan.  You can transport a gun in your car so long as the gun is unloaded and in a container in the trunk of your vehicle or, if the vehicle has no trunk, the gun is in a container and is not readily accessible to the occupants of the vehicle, provided that the gun is being transported for a lawful purpose.  You can carry a gun in your house or your place of business.  No permit or license is required to own a rifle or a shotgun.  If you want to buy a handgun, the buyer has to obtain a license to purchase from the chief of police, if the buyer lives in a city, or the county sheriff if the buyer lives in an area without an organized police department.  The buyer must be at least 18 years old, a U.S. citizen, resident of Michigan, no felony conviction, never been found insane in court, and score at least 70 percent on a pistol safety review questionnaire.  The license has to have the signature of the buyer and the seller.  Within 10 days after the gun is purchased, the buyer must return the license to purchase along with the actual gun to the police agency and they will be issued a safety inspection certificate for the handgun.  

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.

Finding of Not Guilty After Trial For UUW

Today, we obtained a verdict of not guilty after a bench trial at the Bridgeview courthouse for an Aggravated Unlawful Use of Weapon case. I realized that the state had a weak case from the very beginning. The officer testified that he was responding to a call of "shots fired." He was driving around in the neighborhood where the shots were allegedly fired and saw my client sitting on a porch with 2 other individuals. He pulled over his squad car in front of the home and asked the individuals to come over to his vehicle so he could talk to them. The officer testified that when my client stood up he saw a handgun on the stairs right where my client had been sitting. He placed my client under arrest and took him down to the station. About 90 minutes later, the officer said he questioned my client and that he admitted that the gun was his. I was able to show the court that my client was with 2 other individuals on the porch, the alleged confession was not recorded and not in writing, there was no other witness to the alleged confession other than this one officer, the state failed to bring the gun that was alleged to have been recovered to court and that there was no other evidence that the gun belonged to our client. The court found my client not guilty and the long ordeal for my client is finally over. My client is 28 years and has no criminal record. At the time of the arrest, he was a security guard at a store. He had been working security for over 3 years. He lost his job after this arrest and has been unable to get a job anywhere. He can now will file a petition to expunge the arrest and have it completely removed from his record so he can move on with his life without this terrible experience haunting him.

The lesson of this case is that police officers have to try to resist the urge to always make an arrest. Instead of just seizing the handgun and destroying it and being grateful that a dangerous weapon has been taken off of the streets, the police could not just leave it alone and had to find someone to hold responsible even though the evidence of my clients guilt was thin. The fact is that any of the 3 individuals on that porch could have been arrested and my client had to be the unlucky winner of that competition. The result for my client was devastating. For the past year he has been out of work and forced to move back with his parents to survive. You can only imagine the sense of relief he felt when he walked out of court this afternoon.

For more information about the Chicago criminal defense attorneys at Legal Defenders, P.C., visit us at www.thelegaldefenders.com or call us anytime at 1-800-228-7295.