An eleventh hour move ahead of Thanksgiving — teeing off the Michigan Legislature’s upcoming lame duck session — shows Democrats on the warpath with vague legislation aimed at dragging the firearms industry into lawfare for others’ conduct under the banner of public nuisance laws.
“Nuisance is the great grab bag, the dust bin, of the law,” declared the Michigan Supreme Court in a 1959 decision, and now Michigan Democrats want to drag gun manufacturers and sellers into it.
A partisan-backed update to public nuisance laws, backed by 19 Democrats and set for review when the legislature returns December 3, could expose purveyors of guns to lawfare and legal scrutiny by the Michigan Attorney General.
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An amendment to the Revised Judicature Act of 1961’s public nuisance laws could now implicate gun manufacturers and sellers in others’ conduct — a move of questionable precedent and constitutionality.
The update would attempt to hold the firearms industry and its personnel liable as “proximate causes” to public nuisances, that is, for the actions of others.
The amendment reads:
“A firearm industry member, by conduct unlawful in itself or unreasonable under all the circumstances, shall not knowingly or recklessly create, maintain, or contribute to a public nuisance through the sale, manufacture, importing, or marketing of a firearm-related product.
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“A firearm industry member shall establish and implement reasonable controls regarding the manufacture, sale, distribution, use, and marketing of the firearm industry member’s firearm-related products.
“A firearm industry member’s conduct constitutes a proximate cause of the public nuisance if the harm to the public is a reasonably foreseeable effect of the conduct, notwithstanding any intervening actions, including unlawful actions by third parties.”
While the law as proposed in the amendment is vague, and likely liable to constitutional challenges for implicating firearms industry figures as “proximate causes” to others’ potential wrongdoing, the amendment could give rise to lawfare against rivals, critics say.
In other words, the process is the punishment, and Michigan Dems want the firearms industry in court for apparently contributing to others’ actions vis-a-vis nuisance laws.
Novi, Mich., ammunition dealer Fenix Ammunition saw the move as opening up its pro Second Amendment statements and marketing, about which Fenix is unabashed, to nuisance claims. In other words, could Michigan Democrats try to drag the gun industry into court for being a nuisance over exercising its constitutional rights and encouraging citizens to, as well?
Here at the 11th hour, more ridiculously unconstitutional laws being jammed through by Michigan Democrats.
This one aimed at, quite obviously, people like us. People who are outspoken about our rights and not afraid to say exactly what the Second Amendment was written for.… pic.twitter.com/Q86rkeQx1x
— Feni𝕏 Ammunition (@FenixAmmunition) November 28, 2024
The amendment, as written, does drag the gun industry into questionable territory as part of a chain of causality for other crimes against public nuisance, but not actions gun dealers and manufacturers themselves have taken.
Michigan has already seen unprecedented moves on prosecutors’ part to come after other parties than those directly committing crimes. This year, a jury returned guilty verdicts on manslaughter charges for the parents of Oxford school shooter Ethan Crumbley.
Crumbley’s parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley were the first-ever parents charged for the actions of a child committing a school shooting.
The move was so remarkable, and heretofore unseen, that even in Oakland County Prosecutor Karen MacDonald’s office, other prosecutors objected to charging Crumbley’s parents with crimes their son committed. Crumbley was sentenced to life in prison; his parents, 10 years.
The revision to nuisance laws is sponsored by 19 House Democrats:
Rep. Ranjeef Puri
Rep. Emily Dievendorf
Rep. Carrie Rheingans
Rep. Kara Hope
Rep. Laurie Pohutsky
Rep. Stephanie Young
Rep. Felicia Brabec
Rep. Erin Byrnes
Rep. Kelly Breen
Rep. Regina Weiss
Rep. Brenda Carter
Rep. Julie Brixie
Rep. Rachel Hood
Rep. Jason Morgan
Rep. Abraham Aiyash
Rep. Jaime Churches
Rep. Jason Hoskins
Rep. Samantha Steckloff
Rep. Mike McFall