Weapons Charges & Gun Crime Defense

Michigan has detailed and sometimes counterintuitive firearms laws, and weapons charges can arise in situations where the person charged genuinely believed they were acting lawfully. A concealed pistol license does not protect you in every circumstance. A weapon legally owned at home can trigger charges when it leaves the home. The consequences of a weapons conviction, including permanent loss of firearm rights, are serious and lasting. An experienced defense attorney who understands both Michigan firearms law and the constitutional dimensions of these cases is essential.

Michigan Weapons Charges We Handle

• Carrying a Concealed Weapon (CCW) Without a License: MCL 750.227; felony, up to 5 years in prison
• Carrying a Firearm in a Prohibited Zone: schools, courts, churches, entertainment venues, hospitals; felony
• Felon in Possession of a Firearm: MCL 750.224f; felony, up to 5 years; lifetime ban for certain felonies
• Possession of a Firearm During the Commission of a Felony (Felony Firearm): MCL 750.227b; mandatory consecutive 2-year prison sentence
• Brandishing a Firearm in Public: MCL 750.234e; misdemeanor up to 90 days; felony if pointed at a person
• CPL Violations: carrying while intoxicated, failure to disclose to law enforcement, carrying in restricted zones; MCL 28.425
• Illegal Sale or Transfer of a Firearm: straw purchases, unlicensed dealing
• Possession of a Prohibited Weapon: short-barreled rifles, silencers, certain automatic weapons without federal registration
• Assault with a Dangerous Weapon (Felonious Assault): MCL 750.82; up to 4 years
• Weapons Charges Involving Domestic Violence: federal law prohibits firearm possession following domestic violence convictions

How Michigan Weapons Law Works

Michigan is an open-carry state, meaning licensed firearm owners can openly carry in most public places. Concealed carry requires a valid Concealed Pistol License (CPL). However, even with a CPL, there are numerous prohibited zones, including schools, courts, day care centers, houses of worship, entertainment facilities with a liquor license, and hospital emergency rooms, where carrying is a felony regardless of your license status.

One of the most serious and frequently misunderstood charges is Felony Firearm (MCL 750.227b): if you possess a firearm during the commission of any felony, you face a mandatory, consecutive 2-year prison sentence that cannot be reduced by the judge, suspended, or served concurrently with any other sentence. This means the 2-year Felony Firearm sentence is served in addition to whatever sentence you receive for the underlying felony, and it starts after that sentence ends.

Constitutional Defenses

The Second and Fourth Amendments are central to many weapons charge defenses. The Second Amendment protects the individual right to keep and bear arms, and overly broad applications of state weapons statutes face constitutional challenges. The Fourth Amendment governs how police may lawfully search for and seize weapons, the stop, the search, the seizure, and the warrant (or lack thereof) are all subject to suppression motions if constitutional requirements were not met. Evidence obtained through an unlawful stop or warrantless search can be excluded from trial, which often dismantles the prosecution’s entire case.

Defense Strategies

Unlawful stop or search: If police discovered the weapon through an unlawful search, a motion to suppress can remove that evidence from the case.

Good-faith mistake about prohibited zones: The list of CPL-prohibited zones is extensive and not always intuitive. In some circumstances, an honest mistake about a location’s status can be relevant to the intent element of the charge.

Constructive possession disputes: Not every weapon found near a defendant was possessed by that defendant. Constructive possession requires both knowledge and control, if multiple people had access to the area where the weapon was found, the prosecution must prove you specifically had dominion and control over it.

Restoration of firearm rights: For defendants whose rights were previously lost due to a felony conviction, the process for seeking restoration of firearm rights under Michigan law may be available in some circumstances.

How Chris Approaches Weapons Cases

Chris evaluates weapons cases from both the constitutional and factual dimensions simultaneously. He scrutinizes the stop, the search, and the seizure for Fourth Amendment issues before addressing the merits of the charge. In CPL violation cases, he examines whether the location was genuinely prohibited and whether the officer’s understanding of the law was correct. For Felony Firearm charges, where the mandatory 2-year consecutive sentence is in play, getting ahead of the case as early as possible is critical to managing the overall exposure.