Michigan Lawmakers Create Anonymous Tip Line For Children To Report ‘Improperly’ Stored Guns

Children in Michigan will soon be able to anonymously report their parents or other adults for “improperly” storing firearms “that are accessible to a minor.”

The new tip line was part of an amendment to House Bill 5503, a supplemental K-12 budget that passed the Michigan legislature on Wednesday, The Midwesterner reported. A new gun storage law went into effect in Michigan earlier this year, requiring gun owners “to keep unattended weapons unloaded and locked with a locking device or stored in a locked box or container if it is reasonably known that a minor is likely to be present on the premises.”

The new provision, which is part of a supplemental spending bill, allocates $1 million for the tip line for the 2024-2025 school year. The provision also requires that educational materials on how to properly store firearms be sent to school districts.

The spending bill easily passed the Democratic-controlled state House, but was a closer vote in the state Senate, which is also controlled by Democrats. Republican senators refused to give the bill a two-thirds vote, meaning the bill will not become law until the first quarter of next year, The Detroit Free Press reported. Some Republican lawmakers blasted the tip line provision in the bill, with state Sen. Thomas Albert calling it “a tattletale provision” and state Sen. John Damoose arguing that it is designed “to enforce [Democrats’] gun control agenda.”

“This hotline is nothing more than a page out of the Stasi playbook—encouraging children to spy on their own families,” state Rep. Angela Rigas told The Midwesterner. “This is a dangerous step toward weaponizing children in households for the left, and an outrageous government overreach under the guise of public safety.”

The supplemental package was passed by the Michigan legislature after Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was blasted by both Republicans and Democrats for signing an education budget in July that cut funding for school safety and mental health by $300 million, a 92% decrease.

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Democrats worked to push through the supplemental legislation by providing an additional $125 million for mental health and school safety.

The Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners also criticized the $1 million provision for what it called a “Report Your Parents Hotline,” writing on X, “While we all support responsible firearms storage, this is the type of thing we’d expect to see from a totalitarian police state.”

Report Your Parents Hotline

This amendment was inserted into the conference committee report of the Michigan School Aid bill (HB 5503 CR-1) today. The conference committee report is expected to be voted on immediately in the House and Senate with no testimony allowed.

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— Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners (@MCRGO_Michigan) September 25, 2024

After Whitmer won re-election in 2022 and Democrats took control of the state legislature, the governor said there would be a renewed push for gun control, pointing to the November 2021 shooting at Oxford High School where a student killed four of his classmates.

“I do believe that you will all of a sudden see a very different environment in Lansing where the Oxford families and advocates will have the ability to make their voices heard and to inform and drive the policy change that this current legislature has completely shut the door to,” Whitmer said at the time.