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Eastpoint city council wants to...

Generaldet

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I was interviewed by a reporter tonight from the Macomb daily. He stated that the city of Eastpoint officials were looking into creating an ordinance to restrict firearms in city hall.

I'm not sure what is unclear about preemption, but perhaps I will stop by the next meeting and address the issue.
 

sprinklerguy28

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sasha601

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Any law is ineffective without meaningful punishment if violated. In fact, any civil or criminal law as applied to individuals have some sort of penalty for its violation. What about government entity? Can someone clarify this for me?

What isthe penalty that would be applicable to the specific locality (such as city of Eastpoint, for example) for knowingly enacting an ordinance in violation of State Law?

See my point? If they suffer no penalty for it, then why wouldthey stop? Why would any locality restrain from enacting such ordinances? Perfect way to harass people whoCC orOC.

I understand that cities might be liable for enforcing illegal ordinance, but what is the mechanism of preventing illegal ordinances in the first place? Seems to be none, unless a penalty exists for simply passing an illegal ordinance.
 

DanM

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sasha601 wrote:
What isthe penalty that would be applicable to the specific locality (such as city of Eastpoint, for example) for knowingly enacting an ordinance in violation of State Law?

There's no penalty for the act itself, but there are penalties for the possible consequences. Jane Q. Citizen lawfully carries into a local unit of government's illegitimate criminal empowerment zone, she gets detained or arrested, she then files civil suit against the LUG and collects monetary damages.

While it would be great if penalties existed for the act itself, penalties do exist possibly somewhere down the line for LUGs violating preemption. And those in the business of liability insurance for LUGs recognize that and advise them against violating preemption:

http://www.mml.org/insurance/shared/publications/leaf_newsletter/2009_04.pdf

That is a Michigan Municipal League presentation, and I suggest anyone seeing a local ordinance violating preemption share it with the offending LUG.
 

scot623

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I just got off the phone with the City Manager's office. They are fully aware of the laws and are NOT discussing enacting an illegal firearm ban at city hall. She went as far as to say it would take a change in state law to make it possible, so they are aware of preemption. I will report back on my email to councilwoman Klinefelt when I recieve it. So far it sounds like the reporter from the Macomb Daily was misinformed.
 

autosurgeon

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This is good. It is possible it was just the comments of a council person that led the reporter to believe this was in the works. IE the council person could have said " I would like to be able to ban guns in city hall"
 

JeffSayers

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Do you really wanna go there with me?, Michigan, U
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autosurgeon wrote:
This is good. It is possible it was just the comments of a council person that led the reporter to believe this was in the works. IE the council person could have said " I would like to be able to ban guns in city hall"
I can see this happening. And I got $20 on who the person was, but I guess that is not important. Thanks for checking on that scot623, now I won't have to take a double-dose of my blood pressure meds today!
 

scot623

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This issue is officially dead. Councilwoman Klinefelt replied to my email. The council understood firearms were not aloud in court houses and simply asked the city attorney to see if city hall was also a banned location. Of course his reply was "Nope". There will be no other discussion on this issue. Macomb
daily reporter was a bit misinformed.
 
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