HB 5324, 5325, 5326, 5327, 5328, 5329 Firearm records and FOIA

[Tallbear]

• HB 5324 of 2014
  Weapons; licensing; firearm records; clarify exemption under the freedom of information act. Amends sec. 2b of 1927 PA 372 (MCL 28.422b). TIE BAR WITH: HB 4155'13, HB 5325'14, HB 5326'14, HB 5327'14, HB 5328'14, HB 5329'14, SB 0049'13
  Last Action: 2/13/2014 referred to Committee on Judiciary
• HB 5325 of 2014
  Weapons; licensing; definition of firearms records; provide for. Amends sec. 1 of 1927 PA 372 (MCL 28.421). TIE BAR WITH: HB 4155'13, HB 5324'14, HB 5326'14, HB 5327'14, HB 5328'14, HB 5329'14, SB 0049'13
  Last Action: 2/13/2014 referred to Committee on Judiciary
• HB 5326 of 2014
  Weapons; licensing; firearms records; clarify what records are exempt under the freedom of information act. Amends sec. 5o of 1927 PA 372 (MCL 28.425o). TIE BAR WITH: HB 4155'13, HB 5324'14, HB 5325'14, HB 5327'14, HB 5328'14, HB 5329'14, SB 0049'13
  Last Action: 2/13/2014 referred to Committee on Judiciary
• HB 5327 of 2014
  Weapons; licensing; firearms records; exempt from freedom of information act and provide for disclosure only under certain circumstances. Amends 1927 PA 372 (MCL 28.421 - 28.435) by adding sec. 1b. TIE BAR WITH: HB 4155'13, HB 5324'14, HB 5325'14, HB 5326'14, HB 5328'14, HB 5329'14, SB 0049'13
  Last Action: 2/13/2014 referred to Committee on Judiciary
• HB 5328 of 2014
  Weapons; licensing; firearm records; clarify what is exempt under the freedom of information act. Amends sec. 5b of 1927 PA 372 (MCL 28.425b). TIE BAR WITH: HB 4155'13, HB 5324'14, HB 5325'14, HB 5326'14, HB 5327'14, HB 5329'14, SB 0049'13
  Last Action: 2/13/2014 referred to Committee on Judiciary
• HB 5329 of 2014
  Criminal procedure; sentencing guidelines; sentencing guideline for certain firearm licensing information; provide for. Amends sec. 11b, ch. XVII of 1927 PA 175 (MCL 777.11b). TIE BAR WITH: HB 4155'13, HB 5324'14, HB 5325'14, HB 5326'14, HB 5327'14, HB 5328'14, SB 0049'13
  Last Action: 2/13/2014 referred to Committee on Judiciary

[Divegeek]

I'm not a lawyer but so far reading through this group of bills I don't see a down side. It expands the immunity from freedom of information act requests and also spells out limitations of when and what the police can do with the information.

[Roundballer]

This looks pretty good indeed.

They have gathered together (deleted) the randomly placed prohibitions on the release of information, and added a section that covers ALL information gathered, including a little thing that had MLCC licensees making voluntary reports.

It is much better crafted than the other two (identical) bills that have sat in the House and Senate (respectively) since early 2013. 2013-HB-4155 2013-SB-0049

[ninjatoth]

Looks like I don't have to worry about creditors finding out about my expensive handguns now.

[Walther]

Any bets on how long these will languish before they disappear?

[Roundballer]

Any bets on how long these will languish before they disappear?

Part of that is a sucker's bet. If the bills "languish" somewhere, they don't disappear until Dec 2014.

And with a little detective work, and assuming that the two houses don't operate in isolated vacuums, here is what I see,

• The two bills that I linked earlier are identical, something of this nature is wanted by both houses.
• The Senate Bill passed through their committee in eight days and now resides on the Senate Floor awaiting a vote. That has been the situation for a year.
• The House bill that I linked to earlier is sitting in the same committee that all of these bills were assigned to.
• The Chairman of that committee is Kevin Cotter, so I am sure he is aware of that bill.
• All of the bills in the OP have been assigned to the Committee on Judiciary, Chairman; Kevin Cotter.
• There is at least one name that appears as either Sponsor, or Cosponsor of all of these bills, Kevin Cotter.

Then add in the concept that our .gov does not want to be at the mercy of anyone that has an agenda, and can FOIA the .gov records. Then I would give the edge in odds to passage.

What kind of terms and limitations were you thinking?

[Walther]

Part of that is a sucker's bet. If the bills "languish" somewhere, they don't disappear until Dec 2014.

I was thinking in terms of the House Bill you referred to. It's only been there a year....

[Tallbear]

House Standing Committee Meeting

Judiciary, Rep. Kevin Cotter, Chair

DATE: Thursday, February 20, 2014

TIME: 9:00 AM

PLACE: Room 521, House Office Building, Lansing, MI

AGENDA:

HB 5324 (Rep. Jenkins) Weapons; licensing; firearm records; clarify exemption under the freedom of information act.

HB 5325 (Rep. Crawford) Weapons; licensing; definition of firearms records; provide for.

HB 5326 (Rep. McBroom) Weapons; licensing; firearms records; clarify what records are exempt under the freedom of information act.

HB 5327 (Rep. Rendon) Weapons; licensing; firearms records; exempt from freedom of information act and provide for disclosure only under certain circumstances.

HB 5328 (Rep. Cotter) Weapons; licensing; firearm records; clarify what is exempt under the freedom of information act.

HB 5329 (Rep. Pettalia) Criminal procedure; sentencing guidelines; sentencing guideline for certain firearm licensing information; provide for.

[Roundballer]

That was quick, but I expected as much.

[luckless]

This looks like nothing more than some legislative housekeeping. It was my understanding that it is already illegal for the state to give out this information. The real problem is that the state is keeping this data in the first place. Reinforcing a registration system will only embolden those that want to register long guns as well. When are they going to get to work on the stuff we have actually asked them to do? Feel good legislation like this gives the antis a chance to say, "I support gun rights" while we continue to suffer under they same restrictions.