Curbing gun violence and gun ownership has long been a priority for the Democratic Party, and following a lack of substantive action at the federal level during President Biden’s first two years in office, Democrats at the state level are moving with a newfound haste. 

In Michigan, Governor Whitmer has already signed three gun control measures: a red flag law, rules requiring universal background checks for gun buyers, and safe storage requirements. Three more expansive gun control measures — to allow citizens to sue gun manufacturers for damages, to bar convicted domestic abusers from owning weapons, and a high-capacity magazine ban — are next on state Democrats’ list. 

“Universal background checks and safe storage are long-overdue steps we are proud to take today that will save lives by keeping guns out of the hands of criminals and domestic abusers and children in the home,” Ms. Whitmer said in a statement after she signed the gun package earlier this month. 

The next wave of firearms control measures will soon be introduced. The state senator who led the charge for the last group of bills, Rosemary Bayer, told Bridge Michigan that she and her colleagues are working on the new legislation. 

Allowing citizens to sue gun manufacturers for damages has become a newfound cause in the gun control movement. A number of states have either already adopted or are working to adopt such measures. New York, New Jersey, and Delaware passed gun liability laws in 2021, and California followed suit last summer. Washington’s state legislature recently passed a gun liability proposal, and officials in Colorado are considering their own measure.

Should it be adopted, the Michigan law is likely to face legal challenges. When New York’s law was adopted, gun rights groups quickly sued, arguing that a federal law preempted citizens from suing gun manufacturers. The Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act was passed in 2005 by wide, bipartisan margins and held that the gun industry was immune from certain liability lawsuits.

Buffalo became the first city to sue gun manufacturers under New York’s liability reform law. Mayor Byron Brown said that the suit is a key component of his crime-fighting efforts. “Members of our community have suffered too much and for too long from gun violence. We must do everything we can to decrease gun violence,” Mr. Brown said.

A ban on domestic abusers owning weapons could also come under scrutiny in the courts should Michigan adopt the proposal. In March, the Fifth Circuit of the United States Court of Appeals struck down a federal law that prohibited domestic abusers from owning firearms. 

The case, United States v. Rahimi, considered the Second Amendment rights of a convicted abuser, Zackey Rahimi, after a landmark decision from the Supreme Court that struck down a number of gun regulations. 

A panel of three judges found that the Supreme Court’s ruling forced them to reconsider their Second Amendment jurisprudence as the ban on domestic abusers from owning weapons. The judges would end up siding with Rahimi, saying his constitutional rights had been infringed upon. “Could speeders be stripped of their right to keep and bear arms?” the judges asked in their opinion. 

“Political nonconformists? People who do not recycle or drive an electric vehicle? Rahimi, while hardly a model citizen, is nonetheless among ‘the people’ entitled to the Second Amendment’s guarantee, all other things equal,” the jurists wrote. 

Ms. Bayer also hopes that Michigan will be the 15th state to adopt a high-capacity magazine ban, joining Massachusetts, Delaware, Rhode Island, and other solidly blue states. Most of these laws have withstood judicial review to date, though Delaware still faces a a challenge. 

Like in Minnesota, Michigan Democrats are moving with remarkable speed on a number of issues, from gun control to labor reform to abortion rights. Also like their neighbor state, Democrats in Michigan are doing all of this with only a one-seat majority in the state house of representatives.

The Michigan state senate is currently divided, with 20 Democrats and 18 Republicans. If there is a tie in the senate, the lieutenant governor breaks it. In the house, though, Democrats hold 56 seats to Republicans’ 54. If there is a tie in the house, then a bill is defeated. 

Another concern that could hamper the Democrats’ gun control agenda is a lack of compliance from counties and municipalities. So far, in response to the original package of gun bills passed by the state legislature, officials in 53 counties in Michigan have refused to enforce the new laws. Most have passed resolutions declaring themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries,” while other counties’ sheriffs say their departments will not enforce laws they say are unconstitutional.

A similar dynamic is playing out in Illinois, where many rural sheriffs have said they will not enforce new state gun laws.