WEAPONS FOR POLICE, ETC.
House Bill 4410
Sponsor: Rep. Jim Howell
Committee: Criminal Law and Corrections
Complete to 7-15-99
A SUMMARY OF HOUSE BILL 4410 AS INTRODUCED 3-11-99
The bill would amend the section of the Penal Code that exempts certain persons from restrictions against the manufacture, sale, use, or possession of certain types of weapons. Under current law, police officers, authorized regular employees of the corrections department or a private vendor operating a youth correctional facility, members of the U.S. armed forces, reserves or the national guard, and organizations authorized by law to purchase or receive such weapons from the United States or this state are exempt from the prohibitions against the manufacture, sale, possession, or use of certain weapons. Those weapons currently include concealed weapons (knives or pistols), machine guns and certain other automatic weapons, silencers and similar devices, bombs, a variety of hand held bludgeoning devices from brass knuckles to blackjacks, and any weapon devised to render a person temporarily or permanently disabled by the release of gas or another substance. In addition, the aforementioned groups are not subject to the state's restrictions on transportation of a loaded firearm other than a pistol in a motor vehicle or other vehicle, or the transportation of an unloaded firearm in a vehicle when it is not taken down, enclosed in a case, in the trunk of the vehicle, or inaccessible in the interior of the vehicle.
The bill would expand the exceptions provided for these groups to allow them to use devices that deliver an electric charge that may be directed at a person and are intended to incapacitate, injure or kill; short barreled shotguns or rifles; and switchblade knives or other such knives that open by mechanical means.
MCL 750.231
Analyst: W. Flory