Using brandishing statutes to chill Second Amendment rights (Michigan)

[shadowrider]

I have written before about the abuse of statutes such as Disorderly Conduct and Disturbing The Peace to punish otherwise legal behavior such as open carry.

Therefore, when I read the February 25th article by John Schneider in the Lansing State Journal in which Michigan lawyer Shannan Kane declared unequivocally that open carry was barred by Michigan’s brandishing statute, I knew that here was yet another attempt to use a poorly drafted statute to chill Second Amendment rights.

In that article, Kane was reported to have stated unequivocally that MCL 750.234e outlawed all open carry based upon a definition of brandishing as "to display ostentatiously." Following that logic, she subsequently implied that open carry, in all its incarnations, is presumptively ostentatious and therefore prohibited.

What Ms. Kane should have been aware of as a member in good standing of the Michigan Bar is that Attorney General Granholm addressed, and dismissed, this particular issue....

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-minneapolis/using-brandishing-statutes-to-chill-second-amendment-rights