Michigan

Police wade into enforcing Michigan's new gun laws

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3 months ago

February 13, 2024

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Police wade into enforcing Michigan's new gun laws

Police begin enforcing new Michigan gun laws

“They make the laws, we enforce them,” said Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham.

FOX 2 (WJBK) – Three new Michigan gun laws regulating storage and access went into effect Tuesday, signed last year by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

“They make the laws, we enforce them,” said Macomb County Sheriff Anthony Wickersham.

The Michigan safe storage law, expanded universal background checks, and the “Red Flag” law will all be enforced starting Feb 13.

Wickersham reviewed the new gun laws; he said they are simple responsible gun ownership.

“If you have a firearm in your home, and you have minor children, the firearm needs to be stored in a locked box,” Wickersham said. “If you do not have a locked box, then it needs to be unloaded with a trigger lock in it.”

Gun locks and gun safes are a proven way to help prevent accidental shootings involving children, according to police. The universal background checks now apply to shotguns and rifles, not just handguns.

“Purchasing a rifle, purchasing a shotgun is going to require a permit or if you’re a CPL holder,” Wickersham said. “If you’re buying it from a private individual – there’s paperwork that needs to be filled out by the seller, and information has to get back to the law enforcement agency so it can be properly registered.”

But when it comes to the Extreme Risk Protection Order Act (ERPO), also known as the “Red Flag” law, Wickersham said implementation has been pretty involved. Police have been working with the family division of circuit court to allow people to petition to have guns taken away from those who are threatening to harm themselves or others.

“First and foremost, I want my deputies to be safe when they have to go execute one of these ERPOs,” the sheriff said.

Under the “Red Flag” law, a judge could order someone to surrender their weapons. Otherwise, law enforcement would have to go and take them, potentially setting up a dangerous situation for police even though more and more officers are receiving crisis intervention training.

“Hopefully, we’re going to be able to diffuse all of these situations, but we don’t know yet,” Wickersham said.

It is still unclear how frequently the petition process will be used. Right now, the sheriff says are using it, but should still call 911 if there’s an imminent threat

“In any situation – if it’s immediate, there’s threat of life – 911 is the avenue that you should take,” he said. “Law enforcement comes, we’re trained, we’re getting more and more law enforcement officers trained in dealing with individuals that have mental health issues. So our game is stepping up and we’re getting better at what we do.”

For more a break-down of Michigan’s new gun laws, click here.

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Michigan

Climate Justice Challenge sets aside $11M for fighting climate change in Michigan

Published

5 hours ago

May 19, 2024

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Climate Justice Challenge sets aside $11M for fighting climate change in Michigan

MICHIGAN (WLUC) – A new program will help Michigan organizations apply for environmental grants.

The Climate Justice Challenge sets aside up to $11 million to help communities apply for federal funding from the Environmental Protection Agency.

If successful, community organizations could see $10 to $12 million in EPA funding.

Governor Whitmer’s chief infrastructure officer said the program allows Michiganders to take the lead in fighting climate change.

“As Michiganders living our lives every day, the opportunity is to not only meet our own climate goals, but to lead the world and help export our technology and create jobs right here in our home,” Chief Infrastructure Officer Zach Kolodin said.

Applications close July 1.

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Michigan

President Joe Biden returns to Michigan ahead of NAACP speech

Published

12 hours ago

May 19, 2024

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President Joe Biden returns to Michigan ahead of NAACP speech

President Joe Biden has landed back in Michigan, where he’ll campaign in Detroit and deliver a Sunday keynote address at an annual NAACP dinner.

Biden, a Democrat who’s being challenged by Republican former President Donald Trump in the November election, is spending much of the day reaching out to Black voters. On Sunday morning, before traveling to Michigan, he delivered the commencement address at Morehouse College, a historically Black college in Atlanta.

Air Force One landed at Detroit Metropolitan Airport at about 1:10 p.m. Biden was greeted on the tarmac by a group that featured Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, state House Speaker Joe Tate, D-Detroit, and U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Detroit.

On Sunday night, Biden is scheduled to speak at the NAACP Detroit Branch’s 69th annual Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner at the Huntington Place convention center. In an interview last week, the Rev. Wendell Anthony, president of the NAACP Detroit Branch, said he believes Biden recognizes the significance of Detroit.

“Anybody, any party, whether you are a Democrat, Republican or independent needs to not take for granted the African American community,” Anthony said.

Black voters helped Biden win the Democratic nomination and the general election in 2020.

He scored 240,936 votes in Detroit on Election Day in 2020, defeating Trump in Michigan’s largest city, 94%-5%. About 78% of Detroit’s population is Black, according to U.S. Census data. Despite there being no proof of systemic voter fraud in Detroit, in the days after the 2020 election, Trump labeled Detroit “totally corrupt” and said there had been an improper dump of votes there.

Some Democrats are concerned that voters in Detroit won’t turn out for Biden the same way this fall in a rematch with Trump, potentially providing a path for the Republican to flip Michigan.

In a statement, Janiyah Thomas, the Trump campaign’s Black media coordinator, said Biden was “on a pandering tour because he knows what we all know: without the Black vote, there is no Democrat Party.”

“Today, Black voters can see through what Joe Biden is trying to sell because they know, like all Americans, that inflation is eating away at wages, the border is in chaos, and in big blue cities, Black children are trapped in unsafe neighborhoods and failing schools,” Thomas said.

Sunday’s visit marks Biden’s third campaign stop in Michigan of 2024. He met with supporters in Saginaw County in March, and he spoke at a United Auto Workers hall in Macomb County in February.

Biden defeated Trump by about 154,000 votes in Michigan in 2020, 51%-48%.

cmauger@detroitnews.com

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Michigan

12 road closures scheduled this week across Michigan

Published

19 hours ago

May 19, 2024

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12 road closures scheduled this week across Michigan

The Michigan Department of Transportation works to rebuild an eastbound stretch I-196 from Byron Road in Zeeland to 32nd Avenue in Hudsonville in Ottawa County on Thursday, July 27, 2023. (Drone image by Joel Bissell | MLive.com) Joel Bissell | MLive.com

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