by Kaitlyn Besley
Should law-abiding CPL holders lose their right to lawfully carry several months out of each year? Earlier this year, Michigan Democrats in the state legislature introduced HB 4127 and HB 4128 that would amend section 750.234d of Michigan Compiled Law (MCL). The existing law prohibits possession of a firearm on the premises of banks, churches, courts, theaters, sports arenas, day cares, hospitals, and bars for anyone without a conceal-carry license. Now, Democrats are looking for even more ways to restrict your fundamental right to protect yourself. Taken together, the bills would forbid even CPL holders from possessing a gun within a 100-ft radius of the entrances to all active polling locations, early-voting locations, absentee vote processing locations, and notably, ballot drop boxes. The City of Grand Rapids alone contains 65 polling locations and ten drop boxes, all of which must now be identified and avoided when carrying. If this law passes, a mere quick trip across town could become a legal minefield, turning average citizens running errands into criminals.
But the radicals in Lansing don’t want to stop there. The rest of the story is worse yet: the dropbox policy would be in effect for 40 days before each election. During most non-presidential election years, Kent County holds three elections, meaning that concealed carry license-holders would be banned from carrying their weapon within 100 feet of all Kent County drop boxes for 120 days annually. And every fourth year, carrying would be off-limits for 180 days, or 44% of the year. This logistical nightmare will put law-abiding citizens in a disastrous position, since it is impossible to devise a route through the city that avoids all 65 drop boxes with a 100ft radius. Instead, they will be forced to remain unarmed and defenseless in some of the highest crime areas of the county. Law enforcement would be forced into a compliance nightmare of their own, as they waste precious hours analyzing where and when this law is actually in effect, instead of attending to real crime in the county.
Left-wing dark-money PACs are doing their best to create the illusion that these disastrous bills being forced through the Michigan legislature boast broad support. One would expect that such legislation would have at least one Republican sponsor, but no. The 34 sponsors of each bill are all Democrats.
Even more sinister than the partisan politics at play is the threat to public safety. Far from “defending our communities,” as one mailer put it, these policies would encourage dangerous individuals by guaranteeing that every person within a 100-ft radius of a drop box or polling location is unarmed and defenseless. 96% of mass public shootings that occurred between 1950 and 2022 were committed in gun-free zones, but our Democrat legislators don’t care. Under the guise of keeping your community safe, Lansing radicals are stripping your freedoms and emboldening criminals.
The 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution reads, “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed” (emphasis added). It does not say, “The right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed, unless state legislators decide to restrict the bearing of Arms at hundreds of locations for almost half the year.”
HB 4127 and HB 4128 can be summed up in two words: unconstitutional and unsafe. Call your State Senator and Representative today and tell them to VOTE NO on these radical bills.
