The Michigan Court of Appeals has rejected a constitutional challenge to the state’s concealed weapons law. The opinion was made public Friday.
A defendant was charged with carrying a concealed weapon without a permit as a passenger in a vehicle. Her lawyer argued that Michigan’s concealed weapons law is not consistent with the nation’s historical traditions of gun regulation at the time the Bill of Rights was adopted.
Read more at WGVU
House Bill 5048 went into effect on Tuesday, allowing localities to set their own lodging taxes that would only affect visitors, not local taxpayers.
Eight counties are taking advantage of the new legislation, including Kent, Calhoun and Kalamazoo counties.
Read more Wood TV8
Michigan to offer free gun locks to help owners comply with new secure storage laws
The program, announced Friday by the Michigan State Police and the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, includes 75,000 cable-style gun locks that are now available at county MDHHS offices and some local health departments. All MDHHS offices should have gun locks available no later than June.
Read more at Detroit Free Press
Under the new law, police officers, family members and mental health professionals can go to a circuit court judge and ask for an extreme risk protection order (ERPO). A judge can then order police to temporarily take away someone’s guns if the petitioner shows specific examples of why the person is a threat. That can include prior acts or threats of violence, a serious history of mental illness or recent drug or alcohol abuse.
It’s aimed to keep guns out of the hands of people deemed to be dangerous
Read more at WoodTV8
According to the way the law was previously written, a vehicle with historic or authentic license plates could only be used for “participation in club activities, exhibitions, tours, parades, and similar uses, including mechanical testing, but is not used for general transportation.” The new legislation expands the definition of “exhibition” considerably.
Read more at Hagerty Media via MSN
On Monday, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation repealing that criminal ban and legalizing surrogacy contracts and compensated surrogacy.
Read more at NPR
Michigan is currently the only state in the nation where surrogacy contracts are criminally banned, according to the governor’s office. A 1988 law passed by Republicans makes it a misdemeanor or felony charge to take part in a compensated surrogacy contract.
Read more at WZZM 13
