News, Culture and NPR for Central & Northern Michigan
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
91.7FM Alpena and WCML-TV Channel 6 Alpena are off the air. Click here to learn more.

Democrats to pursue state-level gun background checks

The Gun by Auraelius is licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/

Democrats in the Legislature, with the backing of Governor Gretchen Whitmer, are renewing a push for tougher gun laws.

The CDC ranks Michigan 31st among the states in firearm-related deaths per capita.

State Senator Jeremy Moss says Michigan already requires some background checks – and that’s for people seeking concealed pistol licenses. One of the bills would require background checks for anyone purchasing a firearm.

“The system works, the system is constitutional, and we are just looking to add all firearms under the same system, the same background check system that works for responsible gun owners.”    

Republicans have generally pushed back against tighter gun laws, but Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey has agreed to a hearing on a bill that would allow authorities to temporarily confiscate firearms from someone deemed a danger.