A Michigan man whose 2-year-old daughter shot herself in the head with his revolver last week pleaded not guilty after becoming the first person charged under the state’s new law requiring safe storage of guns.

Michael Tolbert, 44, of Flint, was arraigned Monday on nine felony charges including single counts of first-degree child abuse and violation of Michigan’s gun storage law, said John Potbury, Genesee County’s deputy chief assistant prosecuting attorney.

Tolbert’s daughter remained hospitalized Wednesday in critical condition from the Feb. 14 shooting, Potbury said. The youngster shot herself the day after Michigan’s new safe storage gun law took effect.

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255 points

Finally, a sensible gun law.

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68 points

It will get challeged to the Supreme Court and struck down.

https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/554/570/

“In sum, we hold that the District’s ban on handgun possession in the home violates the Second Amendment, as does its prohibition against rendering any lawful firearm in the home operable for the purpose of immediate self-defense. Assuming that Heller is not disqualified from the exercise of Second Amendment rights, the District must permit him to register his handgun and must issue him a license to carry it in the home.”

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49 points

This isn’t preventing him from getting a firearm this is charging somebody with improper storage of a firearm. Not sure how likely it is the supreme Court will rule against it but it’s different than the laws challenged so far

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24 points

Theses fucks are going to suggest that any mandate on how a person keeps their gun (as in in a box, in a safe, etc) is a restriction on their rights.

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6 points

As a felon, legally, they couldn’t get the gun in the first place but that’s not going to stop a lot of felons.

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10 points

Doesn’t seem much different than a parent getting charged when their kids find their stash of drugs and consume them or take them to school.

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3 points
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This isn’t preventing him from getting a firearm

Well, that depends on what you mean. If you mean “it would still be possible for him to illegally acquire or make a firearm,” yes. In fact it looks like he was already a felon in possession (or prohibited possessor) before this incident, clearly this specific guy can get guns regardless of the law.

But if you mean “this does nothing in a legal sense to bar him from arms possession,” actually being indicted on a felony count will pop up on NICs if it has been entered properly, and if it isn’t input properly and he does a 4473, he now has another felony count for lying on the form. Once this conviction hits, it’ll be added to the list, so his prior felony convictions for drugs/firearms related stuff and his felony conviction for safe storage will flag in NICs, this guy will never legally be able to buy a gun again.

Like I said though, “legal” and “possible” are two very different things, just depends on what we mean.

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21 points
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Doubt SCOTUS ever touches this.

The language matters A LOT: Michigan’s mirrors California’s, which would absolutely hold up to any constitutional challenge because it requires negligence with an adverse outcome. Michigan’s and California’s basically say you’re a criminal if two things are met: you had any plausible expectation of a child being around, AND something bad actually happens.

Every states are a little different, and at the other end of the intelligence spectrum are New Jerseys and New Yorks, and nobody even cared to challenge those yet. New Jerseys statute says you’re a criminal, regardless of circumstances, if the guns are not locked up per some collection of criteria at all times when you’re not actively accessing them. I do know that most of New Jerseys rare prosecutions are actual bullshit, for example a cop going door to door to gun owners because of some local crime, asking to see someone’s gun to check it and not liking that the safe in the room he was in when they showed up was not completely locked (never mind he lives alone). Expect any challenge to arise there.

If SCOTUS does throw out all storage laws, it’ll be because of politicians who care more about their resume than about writing really good laws.

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2 points

IIRC there’s already a storage law being challenged, I can’t remember if it’s California or somebody else. CA also has the magazine size ban.

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26 points

Where does the 2A say anything about “immediate self-defense”? Oh that’s right, no where. Fuck SCOTUS

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-14 points

And fuck whoever decided these posts fall under the definition of “speech” too, right? Right?

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2 points
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In the context of the second amendment what do you think the word bear means? I’m not convinced that this law would violate what I think bear means. If it’s not on or near your person, I don’t mind it needing to be locked.

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85 points

I just don’t understand the US and the 2nd. You’re not allowed to have a lot of various weapons and it just states that people can be “armed”, which could mean a lot of things. And even then, having a gun stored away safely is absolutely not infringing on that right either, as long as you have access to it. This is just obsessive gun fetishism and it constantly gets people killed, including little kids.

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50 points

It’s literally gun fetishism. Full stop.

The people who will angrily defend 2a are perfectly happy watching children die if it means they get to keep their guns. They’ll give you all kinds of excuses, they’ll come up with all manner of justifications, but the truth is, they just like feeling powerful and are willing to sacrifice innocent lives for it.

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17 points

The Supreme Court has ruled that you’re allowed “bearable arms”, so essentially anything that can be carried, for self defense. And that requiring a weapon be kept locked up defeats the purpose of self defense.

Oregon has a law that requires guns be locked up, but dodges the self defense aspect by allowing an exception for guns under the direct control of the owner.

So if I’m home and in direct control of my guns, they don’t have to be secured. If I leave home or am not otherwise present, they do.

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2 points

I just don’t understand the US and the 2nd.

It is complicated and a lot of people are ignorant.

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23 points

I dunno, it sounds like you understand it perfectly. A large contingent of the U.S. has decided guns are more important than children’s lives, and that’s why they have more rights.

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They would say, well I have access to buying a Ferrari but I don’t have the right to one.

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6 points

Just look at it through the lens of “would this increase or decrease the profits of the gun lobby?” and everything falls into place.

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10 points

They did leave some wiggle room which has allowed the law here in Washington to stick around. Basically if there is a reasonable possibility that a person who is not allowed to handle firearms would have access to them, you can apply restrictions. Guns here have to either be on your person or locked if there is a possibility that your kids could access them.

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1 point
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That’s the primary thing that’s going to send this guy away… felon in possession.

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-30 points

And yet still another kid dead.

Congrats on passing that super effective gun law, dude!

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20 points
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She is not dead.

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16 points

And the “nothing” it sounds like you’d vote for wouldn’t even punish the father! You’d rather have a kid die for nothing? Or would you rather we took the gun away? Are you saying that the only thing that actually works? Then we might agree on something.

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4 points

Is your argument that laws have no effects?

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6 points

Yeah and people still get murdered so i guess you would like to legalize killing people?

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