Editor's Note: This article is from Gun Pulse, an email-only newsletter from The Sentinel published six days per week to cover the battle over the Second Amendment.
Michigan lawmakers will consider legislation to ban firearms that are “deceptively colored” with unconventional hues as their lame duck legislative session continues.
Michigan Democratic State Senator Dayna Polehanki introduced a bill that defined a “deceptively colored firearm” as any gun for which a “substantial portion of the exterior surface” is a color besides black, brown, dark grey, dark green, silver, nickel, or similar colors. Those who sell or possess such “deceptively colored” firearms may face a $500 fine or a year in prison.
The bill would apply to firearms which have banned colors on the exterior surface of the receiver, on the exterior surface on the slide, or more than half of the overall exterior.
The legislation from Polehanki also has a number of exceptions for individuals who already possess the “deceptively colored” firearms before the effective date of the bill, those who surrender them to Michigan State Police, or agents of the federal or state government.
The law also explicitly disallows any “deceptive coloring product” which is “intended to be used alone or in combination with another product” to make a firearm “deceptively colored.”
Second Amendment advocates immediately criticized the legislation, observing that government agencies do not have the ability to restrict the colors of firearms owned by citizens.
The social media page of the National Association for Gun Rights contended that citizens have the right to own “the silliest colored firearm you can possibly conceive.” They remarked that Michigan Democrats are currently “throwing everything and the kitchen sink at gun owners” amid the lame duck session before Republicans take control of the Michigan House next year.
Michigan Democrats similarly advanced bills last week to prohibit firearm carry in the Michigan State Capitol and other office buildings for the legislature on a party line vote.
