budlight
Regular Member
The lawyer who commented for this article isn't too bright.....
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/...ast-Lansing-lawyer-puts-rest-open-carry-issue
Schneider: East Lansing lawyer puts to rest open carry issue
EAST LANSING - Now that we've all accepted the premise that it's legal in Michigan to carry guns openly pretty much everywhere, East Lansing lawyer Shannan Kane steps forward to shout, "Drop 'em."
Until Feb. 11, Kane worked for the Michigan Legislature's Legislative Analysis Unit. Kane says flatly: "Open carry is NOT legal in Michigan."
This will come as a surprise to many - even Lansing police, who told me just a week ago that officers would not (and could not) arrest members of Michigan Open Carry who were bringing guns into the downtown branch of the Capital Area District Library.
Why? Because, as Capt. Mike Yankowski put it, "State law trumps our local ordinance." State law singles out the places where guns can't be carried - schools, day care centers, churches, etc. - leaving many to conclude that places not specifically named are gun friendly, so to speak.
(As it turned it, CADL got a temporary restraining order that, for the moment, bans guns from the library).
As I pointed out in my Feb. 18 column, another state law - MCL 750.234e - outlaws "brandishing a firearm in public." Cops, hunters, target shooters, and gunsmiths (or people taking a gun for repairs, or buying/selling guns) are exempt.
That's the law on which Kane pins her argument. She seems to have a good point because, as I noted on Feb. 18, "brandish" means, among other things, to "display ostentatiously," and it doesn't get any more ostentatious than carrying a shotgun into a library.
"Open carry enthusiasts have convinced many people," Kane wrote, "that they have a right to open carry virtually anywhere in Michigan because 'there is no law against it.'"
But, citing MCL 750.234e, Kane wrote: "People (minus the exceptions mentioned above) who display firearms in public commit the misdemeanor crime of brandishing a firearm in public ..."
The law, Kane noted, doesn't specifically define "brandish."
"Absent a definition," Kane wrote, "courts look to legislative history and to the dictionary. Both ... make clear that the legislature intended to ban openly-displayed firearms. (It) provided guidance on what is ostentatious and unlawful by including five exceptions to the ban, and specifying that except in those situations, a person may not brandish a firearm in public."
She added: "Open-carry enthusiasts rely on an attorney general opinion ... that a reserve peace officer with a visible holstered weapon is NOT committing the crime of brandishing.
"However, no Michigan court has ruled that a member of the general public is free to open carry. While a reserve peace officer's holstered weapon may not be ostentatiously displayed, the firearms brought to the Capital Area District Library in downtown Lansing by ... open carry fanatics certainly were. In my view, open carry enthusiasts are violating state law, and CADL deserves praise for standing up to them."
Call John Schneider at 377-1175, send a fax to 377-1298 or e-mail jschneid@lsj.com.
http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/...ast-Lansing-lawyer-puts-rest-open-carry-issue
Schneider: East Lansing lawyer puts to rest open carry issue
EAST LANSING - Now that we've all accepted the premise that it's legal in Michigan to carry guns openly pretty much everywhere, East Lansing lawyer Shannan Kane steps forward to shout, "Drop 'em."
Until Feb. 11, Kane worked for the Michigan Legislature's Legislative Analysis Unit. Kane says flatly: "Open carry is NOT legal in Michigan."
This will come as a surprise to many - even Lansing police, who told me just a week ago that officers would not (and could not) arrest members of Michigan Open Carry who were bringing guns into the downtown branch of the Capital Area District Library.
Why? Because, as Capt. Mike Yankowski put it, "State law trumps our local ordinance." State law singles out the places where guns can't be carried - schools, day care centers, churches, etc. - leaving many to conclude that places not specifically named are gun friendly, so to speak.
(As it turned it, CADL got a temporary restraining order that, for the moment, bans guns from the library).
As I pointed out in my Feb. 18 column, another state law - MCL 750.234e - outlaws "brandishing a firearm in public." Cops, hunters, target shooters, and gunsmiths (or people taking a gun for repairs, or buying/selling guns) are exempt.
That's the law on which Kane pins her argument. She seems to have a good point because, as I noted on Feb. 18, "brandish" means, among other things, to "display ostentatiously," and it doesn't get any more ostentatious than carrying a shotgun into a library.
"Open carry enthusiasts have convinced many people," Kane wrote, "that they have a right to open carry virtually anywhere in Michigan because 'there is no law against it.'"
But, citing MCL 750.234e, Kane wrote: "People (minus the exceptions mentioned above) who display firearms in public commit the misdemeanor crime of brandishing a firearm in public ..."
The law, Kane noted, doesn't specifically define "brandish."
"Absent a definition," Kane wrote, "courts look to legislative history and to the dictionary. Both ... make clear that the legislature intended to ban openly-displayed firearms. (It) provided guidance on what is ostentatious and unlawful by including five exceptions to the ban, and specifying that except in those situations, a person may not brandish a firearm in public."
She added: "Open-carry enthusiasts rely on an attorney general opinion ... that a reserve peace officer with a visible holstered weapon is NOT committing the crime of brandishing.
"However, no Michigan court has ruled that a member of the general public is free to open carry. While a reserve peace officer's holstered weapon may not be ostentatiously displayed, the firearms brought to the Capital Area District Library in downtown Lansing by ... open carry fanatics certainly were. In my view, open carry enthusiasts are violating state law, and CADL deserves praise for standing up to them."
Call John Schneider at 377-1175, send a fax to 377-1298 or e-mail jschneid@lsj.com.