[Michigander]

The Michigan State Police form UD-194 (11/01) CCW Chemical Test Rights, which an officer is supposed to read to a person suspected of 'carrying under the influence,' states in part,
After taking my chemical test, you have a right to demand that a person of your own choosing administer a breath, blood, or urine test. You will be given a reasonable opportunity for such a test. You are responsible for obtaining a chemical analysis of a test sample taken by a person of your own choosing.
Questions:

How would this work? Say it's 2:30 AM and you want another party to administer the test, where do you go? Who do you see? Do you plan ahead and designate someone who knows that if they hear from you at 2:30 AM to be ready to administer a test? What if you are not near your home or doctor or person of your choosing?

What is "reasonable opportunity"? How much time can pass before another test would mean little? How many people can you call?

Is it just me, or does this not make much sense?

[GigaBuist]

Emergency room or 24 hour med center I guess. The same applies if you're suspected of DUI (drunk driving).

Seeing as how Michigan's state limit on carrying a pistol, concealed or open, is .02 which effectively one single 12 oz beer I'm not sure what the intended purpose of the law is. How in the world a police officer could determine if you're in the .02 or .04 range is beyond me. Further, assuming it's concealed, they'd have no reason to even question the contents of your blood.

My take is it's pretty much a "feel good" law that's only going to be used to take away permits from people. If a CCW holder tosses their range back in the back seat of their car (legal with a CCW) and has a beer afterwards at a friend's house on the way home from the range they're now in a heap of trouble -- even if it was off their body at the time. Legal to drive the car, illegal to have an unloaded pistol, encased, in a bag in the backseat of their car though.

What I do find interesting is the .02 limit only applies to handguns. I see no such legislation on the books with regards to long guns. I'd imagine this would actually enrage the "hunters" out there if such a law were passed. Feller number 1 can get tanked up the night before and venture out into the wood with his long gun and a BAC of .04 from the night before, but the guy that chooses to carry a handgun along with his long gun is in a heap of trouble if he's carrying a handgun and does the same thing.

However, both can climb into a vehicle at this point with 20 something controls at their fingertips -- but that firearm with four controls is far too complex to handle.

Like I said, it's a "feel good" law.

[Barbara]

There's the possibility of some legislation in Michigan being proposed that would make preliminary blood alcohol testing admissible. If this ever gets beyond the talking stage, it will need to be opposed. They're not very accurate and err on the side of a positive reading.