Straight walled rifles in shotgun zone bill passed

[westcliffe01]

"Posted: Sunday, October 7, 2012 4:00 am

By GLEN WUNDERLICH, Thinking Afield Columnist | 0 comments

Michigan House Bill 5249, that would allow the use of certain specific rifles during the regular firearm deer season in the area that is currently restricted to only shotguns, muzzleloaders, and certain types of pistols, has passed."

The rest of the article here: http://argus-press.com/sports/article_744de998-1022-11e2-b0c8-0019bb2963f4.html

I assume the Governor has to sign this first ?

Will this bill allow for the appropriate rifles to be used on Nov 14 ?

Also, it seems that Ruger is the only manufacturer making bolt action rifles in 357 and 44 magnum ? I personally don't want a lever action or single shot. Shooting either of these calibers will be a heck of a lot cheaper than my 20ga slug gun.... Do you suppose if we write to Savage, they will make a bolt gun for us ?

[Roundballer]

It has only passed the House. The Senate has received it, and assigned it to the the OUTDOOR RECREATION AND TOURISM.

Keep track of it here: 2012-HB-5249 (http://legislature.mi.gov/doc.aspx?2012-HB-5249)

[balrog006]

Nice to think it may be come law before the start of firearm season this year however our hard working, FULL TIME legislature only meets ONCE in Oct (the 17th I think) and then there is the election in the first week of Nov.......

In all reality unless it has already passed and is on Snyder's desk I don't see it going anywhere this year unfortunately.

[Roundballer]

<snip>
In all reality unless it has already passed and is on Snyder's desk I don't see it going anywhere this year unfortunately.
Even if it was sitting on Snyder's desk, AND the legislators had given it "Immediate Effect", it still doesn't become law for 90 days. I would have had to get through the entire process back around the beginning of Sept to make it for this year.

We can keep our fingers crossed that it doesn't die, or that we can get it re-introduced for next year, I am not positive of when the bill dies as the legislature changes.

[westcliffe01]

I hate it when the press says something has passed, when in fact it is just 1 step in the process...

On the positive side, according to the article, it was a good rebuke of the DNR opposition.

Quote:
"The Michigan United Conservation Clubs supports the bill, whereby, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources opposes the bill. Oh, yeah. So do two Democrats: Lansing’s Joan Bauer (District 68) and Muskegon’s Marcia Hovey-Wright (District 92). However, 106 of their peers voted against them." 106 to 2 sounds pretty unanimous...

I better sell that slug gun on New Years day... $3/shell ????

[RayMich]

Obviously, this bill caters to special interests groups who only shoot the longer cased handgun cartridges.



A .35-caliber or larger rifle loaded with straight-walled cartridges that have a minimum case length of 1.16 and a maximum case length of 1.80 inches.
It would be a half way decent bill if they removed the case length restriction, but as it stands, I can't get too exited about it.

With this bill, I can hunt with a 9mm Glock pistol as long as the magazine only holds 8+1, but if I install a MechTech CCU conversion unit, making it a carbine, it would be illegal to hunt with it in the shotgun zone.

I can hunt with a .38 Special revolver, but a lever action rifle shooting the same ammo will be illegal.

Makes absolutely NO SENSE!

[westcliffe01]

I will accept this bill as being better than the restrictions we have now (even though those make no sense either) and then next year we need to see if we can get the suppressor language removed from the DNR statutes.

A 44 mag or 357 mag carbine is going to be a LOT less expensive to shoot than my 20 ga slug gun. There are still plenty of other restricted places where we can get rid our ours...

Expecting sense from our political system is a recipe for frustration. Particularly after the last election cycle... For each one of us actually interested in hunting there are several people who could care less and the rabid anti hunting / animal rights groups (cue recent California legislation..)