I received an email from Eileen today.
Hi Neil,
First, thank you for sharing your proposed language with me. I really appreciate the considered feedback I always get from you, and the substantive proposal you put forth enabled me to get good opinions and discussion from law enforcement and the Attorney General’s office on the issue.
Before I get into the details, I just want to let you know that with the current legislative session almost over, the deadline for introducing new bills has passed. Because of this, I’m unfortunately not going to be able to introduce any bill on this matter until next year.
And while I’m receptive to this issue, there are a few issues that would need to be addressed also before moving forward with legislation. First, there’s concern from a public safety standpoint in that by treating a vehicle as an extension of one’s home, you would allow a group of hoodlums looking for trouble the ability to carry guns in the car legally, so long as they were registered to a non-felon in the vehicle. The AG shared this concern with me.
Makes sense... let's deny the 99.9999% of people the right to self defense over "concerns" of a hypothetical situation that is going to be the extreme minority anyways. Sounds patriotic.
This ties into a second issue that was brought up in discussions with law enforcement—it would create an officer safety issue. As you know as someone who has taken the class, one does get some essential knowledge about gun safety when going through the pistol safety class that’s required for CPL applicants. Allowing people to drive without a permit does then create more uncertainty in run-ins with the police, and I have been told that law enforcement needs some reassurance this would not be an issue.
I know it's reality, but frankly it's horse squeeze that we have to get our laws "okayed" by cops. Statistically, over and over, cops don't have nearly as dangerous of a job as they'd like you to believe. Officer safety, yes.... but what about the "rest of us safety"?
Also, there are a number of exceptions to the licensing requirement when using a gun in a vehicle that you’re well aware of, such as going to a gun range, moving, etc. Because of this, I have also been told that the AG is worried about supporting such a change, especially when securing a CPL in Michigan is still fairly easy.
I also understand that many other states have laws on the books similar to what you propose, but I also wonder if that is because their demographics are different than ours. In states like ours (ones with many urban areas--Illinois, Ohio, New York, to name a few) they have similar laws on the books. This is definitely something that we need to look into more.
Sincerely,
Eileen