Most Michigan Schools Skip Gun Storage Notice Law, No Penalty Exists

More than half of Michigan's public and private school districts are blowing off a two-year-old state law requiring them to send parents information on gun storage, according to a new audit from a gun control group, and the law itself has no teeth to force compliance.

The short version

Michigan's "Safe Homes, Safe Schools" law took effect in February 2025, requiring every school district to distribute state-approved gun storage information to parents and guardians by October each year. End Gun Violence Michigan reviewed the websites of more than 500 districts and found roughly 58 percent are not in compliance, based on what the group could find posted online. The organization acknowledges it has no way of knowing whether districts actually sent information home with students, only that district websites are "a good place to start" for checking compliance.

According to End Gun Violence Michigan member Lauren Jasinski, the law carries no penalty for districts that ignore it, making it an unfunded, unenforceable mandate. Bearing Arms' Cam Edwards argues the underlying storage requirement is the real problem, since it effectively requires firearms be locked up unless "attended," while a self-defense exception for minors exists on paper with no explanation of how parents could legally set that access up in advance.

Key points

• Compliance rate: About 58 percent of Michigan's more than 500 school districts are not following the Safe Homes, Safe Schools notification law, per End Gun Violence Michigan's website audit.
• No enforcement: Lauren Jasinski of End Gun Violence Michigan says the law has no consequences for districts that fail to comply.
• Deadline pressure: Activist Sherri Masson said as of September 1 only half of districts were complying, with the October deadline looming.
• Storage requirement: State law requires unattended firearms be unloaded and locked up whenever a minor is reasonably likely to be present.
• Self-defense exception: The statute exempts minors who access a firearm while lawfully acting in self-defense, but doesn't say how parents can legally provide that access ahead of time without violating storage rules.
• Prosecution risk: Edwards notes parents have been charged in cases where young children got hold of unsecured guns, raising questions about how the self-defense exception would actually work for parents.

Bottom line

Michigan parents shouldn't assume their kid's school has handed them accurate, or any, information on the state's storage law, since the mandate has no enforcement mechanism behind it. Gun owners with kids in Michigan schools should look into the storage law themselves, including its murky self-defense exception, rather than wait on their district to explain it.

Source: bearingarms.com