Moving to Michigan

While primarily concerned with handguns and permits for carrying, there's a lot of other info about the state's laws:
http://www.handgunlaw.us/states/michigan.pdf

Your are going to be welcomed by a very beautiful state.

Ludington State Park is very near GR.... definitely a must visit. Mackinaw Island is a 3 hour drive, but is very beautiful. If you're athletic, go up and walk the bridge when they have their big festival. Yup.... the Great Lakes are truly great and Lake Michigan is my favorite one.

You will find that western MI rings much more country and conservative than the uber liberal southeast. Some would even say that GR is the northern tail end of the Bible belt. Also, GR is a nice city and I suspect you'll find the cost of housing and living quite a bit lower than TX.

It might take a short while to get used to the way people in MI talk, as it is somewhat distinct. A lot of sing-song with lots of inflection.... mostly residual from German influences.

Go bag a big white tail come October... they are plentiful!

Enjoy your time there.... you might just fall in love and stay.

Sand dunes, lakes, islands, shipwrecks, motorsports, there's lots to like in Michigan.
But don't forget your parka, long johns and insulated boots.

I am 55 and have lived near the southern state line all my life. Grand Rapids is about 1.5 hours away from me. There is a lot here and it'll be what you make of it.

I have no problem with my firearms, I am not a fan of the registration but you do what you gotta do. I might be wrong but have never heard about any mag restrictions. Michigan is pretty gun friendly.

As far as the weather goes it can get hot but it ain't "a dry heat". Yeah you're probably tired of that dry heat comment right? Sorry. Then when Winter comes off Lake Michigan it can get cold as a well digger's butt, you can either embrace it or drink a lot. After 55 years here I am thinking about Kentucky myself.

I like riding my touring bike around the state and into the UP. Crossing Big Mac on a bike and rocking up to Lake Superior is a riot. The Lower peninsula's east coast is more rural the west coast can be prettier. It's thick with yacht clubs and golf courses but some nice beaches and touristy towns to explore. I don't gamble but there are plenty of casinos. We have lighthouses too. The downside is a lot of our roads suck.

I avoid the south east, (anything below Saginaw Bay.) I just don't like the crowds and traffic. Detroit is an industrial wasteland. However, an oncology surgeon and his team in Grosse Pointe Woods on the North side of Detroit saved my life last May.... so I am trying to be less of a snob.

Good luck, Grand Rapids has some world class health care going on up there.

Register your pistols with the GR PD. Open carry is legal, but GR PD is infamous for harassing people who do.

We have no mag restrictions, but we do have a few quirky laws here and there. Overall we're a pretty gun friendly state.

Get your CPL application in ASAP, it takes a few months.

Michigan was my 49th state to visit. Took me til the summer of 2005. I'm sorry I waited so long. Starting from just above the state line in Niles, we covered the whole of eastern Lake Michigan,the Great Sand Dunes, across the Mackinac Straits to the U.P. and all the way west to Copper Harbor and the end of U.S.41 on Lake Superior.

Then back east through Marquette to Sault Ste.Marie ,then south across the Straits to Alpena,Bay City, Lansing, for a great 4th of July parade .to Hudson and into Ohio.

It was a great 6 days with my wife and 4 grandchildren. Certainly a most beautiful state.
The Great Lakes, cherry orchards, beautiful farms and very friendly, down to earth people.

I carried concealed every day with no problems . I must say that the Michigan State Police are the most aggressive Highway Patrol I've ever seen. Those big, ominous blue cruisers seem to be everywhere and sometimes we'd be followed for miles, then suddenly the tail would turn around and vanish. This happened at least 3 times. Maybe the Florida plates with the Army tag!

Speeding is almost non-existent as a result. I mean those troopers take their job seriously! One lady trooper even stopped while the kids were trying to corral a huge snapping turtle near the city of Holland and asked if we needed any assistance!

I hope to return some day. I believe the OP will enjoy his stay immensely.
Good luck.

I work in Grand Rapids, myself. Look me up when you get into town. I'm a displaced Kentuckian myself, so I know how much of a change it can be. You planning to live in GR or looking into the outlying areas?

Gun laws aren't bad. Traditional open carry (some places, like GR, will hassle you about OC), CPLs are a bit on the expensive side,, but we just had a reform bill signed, goes into effect in December this year.
Yes, you have to register handguns. There is a bill in the works to abolish the registry, hopefully it passes this year and the governor doesn't cave to special interests again.

No waiting period for any firearms, handguns require a purchase permit (CPL acts as a purchase permit). No magazine restrictions. All NFA is legal to own.

Switchblades are illegal to possess, unless you are a cop, active military, or only have the use of one arm. Daggers (any knife with a dual edge) are illegal to carry. Other knives are not generally considered weapons, but it gets a bit iffy. Rule of thumb is don't carry anything with a longer than 3.5" blade. larger knives while hunting are ok.

Aside from the gun stuff, there is a ton to do year round. Excellent hunting, fishing, boating of all sorts, etc. Winters are going to be a shock, but you make due.

The GR medical mile is a great opportunity for your wife.
What sort of work do you do?

Lived in a very rural area about 40 miles from G R Michigan my whole life (except the 4 years donated to Uncle Sam) and have been a gun owner since I was a kid. You shouldn't have any problems with gun laws here. As another member said, open carry is legal here and GRPD is known to harass those who do. That said, I always open carry when fishing on The Grand River and have never been bothered. The best place for gun law info is the MI State Police website. You should love it here. And if you are still looking for housing, look North of G R.

USAF Vet, there is NO purchase permit required for handgun purchases anymore. Walk in walk out. NICS is all they run and then you have 10 days to register at the appropriate jurisdiction. I know that sounds crazy but it has been the case the last 3 handguns I have bought and those were all at licensed dealers and I do not have a CPL.

Welcome to Michigan & all it's wonders.

USAF Vet, there is NO purchase permit required for handgun purchases anymore. Walk in walk out. NICS is all they run and then you have 10 days to register at the appropriate jurisdiction. I know that sounds crazy but it has been the case the last 3 handguns I have bought and those were all at licensed dealers and I do not have a CPL.

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That's only partly true. If purchasing from a dealer, the dealer handles the form for registration, which was formerly acquired at the local cop shop along with a BGC.

However, if purchasing from a private party, a purchase permit must still be acquired and BGC must still be run at the time of permit acquisition.

If you have a CPL, and purchasing from a private party, you are required to have both parties fill and sign the RI-060, Pistol Sales Record.

The purchase permit, dealer sales record, and pistol sales record all get forwarded to MSP to be loaded into their pistol database, for as long as it exists.

I must say that the Michigan State Police are the most aggressive Highway Patrol I've ever seen.

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Living in MI all my life but occasionally traveling back and forth to our plants in Ohio for a few years now, I would have voted for the toll road and I 75 Ohio Troopers on that one.

When and if you get pulled over here you are required to announce your possession of a firearm. They know before they get to your window anyhow.

I think you will be quite pleasantly surprised at the tremendous natural beauty of the state ... and how clean it is (if you stay away from Metro Detroit or Flint). You'll also be pleasantly surprised at how un-crowded the state seems when you get away from the cities (especially when you travel to the fabulous U.P.) The whitetail hunting in Michigan second to none. I go home every year to the family property for deer season. And the Lake Michigan and Lake Superior shorelines are indescribably beautiful.

Move to Fruitport.
GO ! TROJANS !

tacmedicp94 said:

Thanks for all the replies folks. They're making me feel better about the move. I'm a Paramedic so I have lots of paperwork to fill out in order to get my License transferred. I'll look into doing the CPL at the same time, although I'm not sure if I can get a resident permit without first establishing residency. My wife was in GR for literally 48hrs for her residency interview, so we don't have a whole lot of info or time in the area. We're going to try and come up for around 2 weeks sometime in late April or early May to look around and see about housing etc. I'm excited about the hunting opportunities, most of the land here in Texas is privately owned and can be very expensive to hunt on. From reading the states web sites it looks like I can hunt in the national forrests as long as I have a state hunting license. Is that correct? I'm looking over any website I can find, thanks for the earlier links, but I also like having information from the folks who live there.

USAF_Vet, thanks for the invite, I'll let you know when we're heading up to GR. Maybe we can meet up. I'll buy.

Thanks again
Adam

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Your Texas carry permit will suffice for as long as you are in transition. Once you do establish residency, your Texas CPL will be sufficient provided you have a receipt from the county clerks office that your Michigan CPL is in the works.

For now, you do have the duty to inform, but that goes away when the reform bill goes into effect. But as 76 said, they know before they get to your window anyway.

For now, you do have the duty to inform, but that goes away when the reform bill goes into effect. But as 76 said, they know before they get to your window anyway.

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I think the Michigan State Police have a 6th sense. They know everything, including your favorite crime novelist and your choice of carry weapon. Those folks are good!

I wish they were roaming Florida's disastrously dangerous highways and byways.
We'd be a lot safer in the Sunshine State. Really.

USAF_Vet said:

Your Texas carry permit will suffice for as long as you are in transition. Once you do establish residency, your Texas CPL will be sufficient provided you have a receipt from the county clerks office that your Michigan CPL is in the works.

For now, you do have the duty to inform, but that goes away when the reform bill goes into effect. But as 76 said, they know before they get to your window anyway.

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USAF Vet: The so-called reform bill keeps the requirement to notify, and adds that failure to notify will get you arrested.

Tacmedicp94, please visit http://www.migunowners.org/ There is a wealth of information for you to peruse.
Diverdave

That they are. I myself am a member.

Kaeto said:

USAF Vet: The so-called reform bill keeps the requirement to notify, and adds that failure to notify will get you arrested.

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That must have changed from the last version.

One phrase you will learn to hate......lake effect snow!
Best wishes on your move! You'll love that side of the state in the
summer!

USAF VET, I stand corrected on the purchase permit for private party transfers. My bad.