Michigan Passes Law to Mandate Destroying Valuable Assets

Image from Grand Rapids Police facebook.com, cropped and scaled by Dean Weingarten

On January 22, 2025, Democratic Governor Whitmer of Michigan signed HB No. 6145 into law, as part of a package of bills. HB No. 6145 mandates the state destroy valuable assets as an ideological statement. The bill requires all parts of firearms which come into possession of the Michigan State Police be destroyed instead of being sold and the money used for the public good. From enrolled House Bill No. 6145:

 Sec. 14. ( 1) Subject to sections 5g and 14a, all pistols, weapons, or devices carried or possessed contrary to this act are declared forfeited to this state, and must be turned over to the director of the department of state police or the director’s designated representative, for disposal under this section.

(2) The director of the department of state police shall dispose of firearms under this section by destroying them. The director shall ensure that all parts of a firearm disposed of under this section are destroyed.

Republicans flipped the House from Democratic control to Republican control on November 5, 2024. On December 12, 2024, House Bill No. 6145 was introduced in the the Michigan House of Representatives. The bill was passed with partisan votes in the lame duck session in the House. The new office holders would not take office until January 1, 2025. The Senate passed the bill on December 20, 2024. Governor Whitmer signed HB No. 6145 into law on January 22, 2025. The law will go into effect on April 2, 2025.  From fox2detroit.com:

The New York Times reported in 2023 that buyback programs often don’t lead to the complete firearm being destroyed.

Instead, a single piece that includes the gun’s serial number is disposed of before the company that takes them in sells the rest of the firearm.

 HB 6144, 6145, and 6146 deals with any gun buyback programs, ordering the Michigan State Police to destroy all firearms that was purchased during one of those sessions.

This poorly conceived bill does nothing to stop crime or benefit the State of Michigan. Numerous academic studies have found gun “buybacks” to have no measurable positive effect on crime. One large study found “buybacks” to have a slight, but measurable negative effect.  “Buybacks” were associated with slight increases in crime.

Elementary economics indicate the primary effect of the bill will be to increase the number of new gun sales. Most of the firearms affected by the bill will be old firearms, many of them collectible. Parts for old firearms will now be destroyed instead of entering the market place.

The effect of destroying the firearms will be to increase the demand for new firearms. It is simple supply and demand economics. There is a demand for firearms. The demand can be met with new firearms or used firearms. If the supply of used firearms is reduced, the demand easily shifts to new firearms. When more old firearms are destroyed, more new firearms are sold.

With over 500 million firearms in the private stock in the United States, destroying a few firearms does not affect supply very much. During the last five years, over 15 million firearms have been sold each year. Approximately 87% of them are new stock. Since the Presidential election year of 2008, 208 million firearms have been added to the private stock.

Destroying guns or gun parts robs taxpayers in two ways: The state agency has to pay to have the firearms destroyed, and the state loses the value of firearms and parts which are destroyed, rather than sell them and pocket the money.

The number of firearms used in crime in a given year are a tiny percentage of firearms in the nation. There were less than three crimes committed with firearms per 1000 people in 2023. There were about 1,500 legal firearms per 1000 people in the United States.  If the absurd assumption is made that every crime committed with a firearm is committed with one firearm, which is never used in crime again, there are 500 firearms which are never involved in crime for every one which is, in any year. In fact, firearms are often used in multiple crimes. Other nations with much smaller stocks of firearms per capita have crime rates much higher than the United States. The number of legally owned firearms in a nation has no correlation to murder or suicide rates.

The legislation if founded on the false assumption that if you destroy guns, you are somehow limiting the supply of guns. Another assumption is more guns = more crime. Both assumptions are false.

©2024 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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