Ghost guns are legal in Michigan as of early 2026, with one significant catch. No Michigan statute specifically bans building or owning an unserialized firearm for personal use, and federal law allows home builds that aren’t made for sale. But Michigan’s pistol registration law creates a real problem for anyone who builds a handgun at home, and a pending bill in the legislature would outlaw unserialized firearms entirely.
The Handgun Registration Trap
If you build a pistol at home in Michigan, you have a legal problem before you even finish the project. State law requires anyone who purchases, carries, possesses, or transports a pistol to first obtain a license and register the firearm with local law enforcement.1Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws Section 28.422 That obligation applies whether the pistol came from a dealer or your garage.2Michigan State Police. Legal Update No. 86
The registration process, however, was built around commercially manufactured pistols with serial numbers, manufacturer names, and model designations. A homemade pistol has none of those. The result is a practical trap: you are required to register, and the system is not set up to accept your registration. This gap is one of the central reasons the legislature is considering new rules specifically for ghost guns.
Private transfers of pistols face the same requirements. A private sale between individuals still requires a license to purchase and registration with local law enforcement, and the seller must return a copy of the license to the licensing authority within 10 days.1Michigan Legislature. Michigan Compiled Laws Section 28.422
Rifles and Shotguns Built at Home
For long guns, the current picture is straightforward. If you build a rifle or shotgun at home for personal use, Michigan law does not require you to engrave a serial number or report the firearm’s existence to anyone. Federal law takes the same position: the ATF does not require a serial number or registration for a privately made firearm as long as you are not building guns for profit or as a business.3Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Privately Made Firearms No federal license is needed for a purely personal build.
The line the ATF draws is whether you are “engaged in the business” of manufacturing firearms, which it defines as devoting time and labor to making guns as a regular activity with the principal goal of earning a living or profit.4Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Federal Firearms Licenses Building one rifle for yourself is personal use. Building several and listing them for sale is a business. Crossing that line without a federal manufacturing license is a federal felony.
The Pending Michigan Ban
Senate Bills 331 and 332 would change all of this. The companion bills would make it illegal to manufacture, assemble, purchase, sell, or transfer any firearm or firearm component that lacks a serial number.5Michigan Legislature. Senate Bill 331 and 332 Analysis They would also ban individuals from using 3D printers or CNC milling machines to create firearm frames, receivers, or complete firearms unless the person holds a federal manufacturing license under 18 U.S.C. § 923.
Current owners would get an 18-month compliance window from the law’s effective date to get any unserialized firearms serialized. For homemade pistols, the bills create a dedicated process: you would obtain a pistol safety inspection certificate from your local police department or county sheriff, present the pistol in person, and provide identifying information. If the pistol has no serial number, law enforcement would assign one and require you to permanently engrave it on the firearm.6Michigan Legislature. Firearm Parts – Require Serial Number, S.B. 331 and 332 Analysis
Both bills passed the Michigan Senate on June 25, 2025 and were referred to the House Committee on Government Operations. They have not received a House vote as of this writing.
Penalties If the Bills Pass
A first offense would be a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year of imprisonment, a fine of up to $1,000, or both. Subsequent offenses would become a felony punishable by up to four years of imprisonment, a fine of up to $2,000, or both. These penalties would reach manufacturing, possessing, or transferring unserialized firearms and components, along with using a 3D printer or CNC machine to produce firearm parts without a federal manufacturing license.5Michigan Legislature. Senate Bill 331 and 332 Analysis
Federal Rules That Still Apply
Several federal prohibitions apply to ghost guns in Michigan regardless of what state law does or does not say.
Undetectable firearms are illegal, full stop. Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(p) it is a federal crime to manufacture, possess, or transfer any firearm that cannot be detected by a walk-through metal detector or a standard airport x-ray machine. A fully plastic 3D-printed gun violates this law whether or not Michigan has acted.
Commercial parts kits are regulated. Since 2022, unfinished frames and receivers that can be readily converted into functional firearm components qualify as “firearms” under federal law, which means dealers who sell them must serialize them, run background checks on buyers, and keep sales records.7Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Definition of Frame or Receiver and Identification of Firearms The Supreme Court upheld this rule in Bondi v. VanDerStok in March 2025, with Justice Gorsuch writing for a 7-2 majority that the Gun Control Act gives the ATF authority to regulate at least some weapon parts kits and partially complete frames or receivers.8Supreme Court of the United States. Bondi v. VanDerStok, No. 23-852
Removing a serial number is a felony. Michigan’s MCL 750.230 makes it a crime to intentionally alter, remove, or obliterate the maker’s name, model number, manufacturer’s number, or other identifying marks on a pistol. Federally, 18 U.S.C. § 922(k) prohibits possessing or transporting a firearm with a removed or altered serial number if the firearm has ever crossed state lines. Buying a used firearm with a scratched-off serial number carries more legal risk than building one that never had a serial number, an inconsistency the pending Michigan bills are designed to eliminate.
Finally, if a licensed dealer takes in a privately made firearm, the dealer must mark it with a unique serial number within seven days or before transferring it, whichever comes first, and must process the sale with a background check and ATF Form 4473 like any other firearm transaction.3Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Privately Made Firearms