Michigan Firearm Laws: Ownership, Carry, and CPL Rules

Michigan firearm laws require a purchase license or a concealed pistol license before you buy any firearm, allow open carry in most public places without a permit, and treat carrying a concealed pistol (or any pistol in a vehicle) without a license as a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Since 2023, background checks apply to every firearm sale, including private transfers of rifles and shotguns, and safe storage rules are now on the books. The details below are the ones that most often trip people up.

Who Can Buy and Own a Firearm

You must be at least 18 to buy a rifle or shotgun and at least 21 to buy a handgun from a federally licensed dealer.¹ A Michigan driver’s license or state ID serves as proof of residency, and only Michigan residents can purchase handguns within the state.

Every purchase from a licensed dealer requires a background check. As of 2023, universal background checks apply to all firearm sales, closing the gap that used to exempt private long-gun transfers.² If you don’t hold a CPL, a federally licensed dealer can run the federal background check for you on a long gun purchase.³

Several categories of people are barred from firearm possession entirely. A felony conviction disqualifies you until you meet the restoration requirements described later in this article. Certain domestic violence misdemeanor convictions, mental health adjudications, involuntary commitment orders, and findings of legal incapacity are also disqualifiers.⁴ Michigan has no waiting period, though the license-to-purchase process takes some time on its own.

Purchase Licenses and Sales Records

You need either a purchase license or a valid CPL before buying any firearm. To get a purchase license, apply at any local law enforcement agency, complete the background check, and pick up the license once it’s approved. It’s good for 30 days.¹ If you don’t use it in that window, return it and start over.

After a pistol sale, the seller completes a sales record in triplicate: one copy for the seller, one for the buyer, and one filed with the local law enforcement agency within 10 days. That agency enters the pistol into a database maintained by the Michigan State Police.³ A seller who skips the filing faces a civil infraction and a fine of up to $250. Long gun sales require a completed record too, but there’s no equivalent filing requirement for database entry.

Concealed Pistol License

Carrying a handgun concealed on your body, or anywhere in a vehicle whether concealed or not, requires a CPL. Without one, either is a felony. Applications go through the county clerk.

You must be at least 21.
You must be a U.S. citizen or lawfully admitted alien and a Michigan resident for at least six months immediately before applying.⁵
You must complete a state-approved pistol safety training course and submit the certificate with your application.⁶
You’ll be fingerprinted at the county clerk’s office, a state police post, sheriff’s office, or another authorized agency.
The application fee is $100 for a new CPL and $115 for a renewal.⁶⁷

The county clerk has 45 days from the fingerprint date to issue your license or send a notice of statutory disqualification. If neither shows up in that window, your application receipt paired with your state ID works as a temporary CPL.⁶

Reciprocity

Michigan recognizes concealed carry licenses from other states, so out-of-state visitors can carry concealed here as long as they follow Michigan rules, including pistol-free zones. If you hold a Michigan CPL and want to carry in another state, check that state’s law directly. Michigan doesn’t publish a universal list of states that honor its license, and reciprocity changes.⁸

Open Carry

Michigan allows open carry of firearms without a permit. No statute explicitly authorizes it, and none prohibits it, so openly carrying with lawful intent is legal in most public places.⁹

Two limits matter. First, you cannot open carry a pistol inside a vehicle. Michigan treats any pistol in a vehicle as subject to concealed carry rules, so a pistol in a car without a CPL is a felony unless you meet the transportation exceptions below. There is no vehicle workaround.⁹

Second, MCL 750.234d prohibits firearm possession on the premises of banks and credit unions, churches or places of worship, courts, theaters, sports arenas, day care centers, hospitals, and businesses licensed to serve alcohol. CPL holders are exempt from these location restrictions, as are property owners and hired security. Private property owners can also prohibit firearms on their land regardless of your license; if you’re asked to leave and refuse, you can be charged with trespassing.

Pistol-Free Zones for Concealed Carry

Even with a valid CPL, you can’t carry concealed in certain places:

Schools and school property, though a parent dropping off or picking up a student may keep a concealed pistol in their vehicle
Child care centers and child-placing agencies
Sports arenas and stadiums
Bars and taverns where alcohol sales are the primary income source (owners and employees are exempt)
Places of worship, unless the presiding official grants permission
Entertainment venues with seating for 2,500 or more
Hospitals
College and university classrooms and dormitories¹⁰

Parking lots at these locations aren’t part of the restricted premises, so a firearm locked in your vehicle in the lot isn’t a violation.

Penalties escalate quickly. A first violation is a civil infraction with a fine of up to $500 and a six-month CPL suspension. A second is a misdemeanor with up to a $1,000 fine and permanent CPL revocation. A third is a felony carrying up to four years in prison, a $5,000 fine, and revocation.¹⁰

Transporting Firearms

How you move a firearm depends on what kind it is and whether you hold a CPL.

Pistols Without a CPL

If you don’t have a CPL, transporting a pistol in a vehicle is legal only for specific lawful purposes, such as traveling to a shooting range, gun show, repair shop, or between residences. The pistol must be unloaded, in a closed case designed for firearms, and stored in the trunk. If the vehicle has no trunk, the pistol must be inaccessible from the passenger compartment.⁹ Skipping these rules isn’t a ticket. Transporting a pistol in a vehicle without a CPL and outside the lawful-purpose exceptions is a felony under MCL 750.227.¹¹

Long Guns

Rifles and shotguns in a vehicle must be unloaded and meet at least one of these conditions: taken down, enclosed in a case, carried in the trunk, or otherwise inaccessible from the interior. Violating the long-gun transport rules is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail, a fine of up to $100, or both.¹²

CPL Holders

With a valid CPL, you can carry a loaded pistol on your person or in your vehicle without the case-and-trunk requirements. Pistol-free zone rules still apply once you arrive.

Storage and Reporting Stolen Firearms

Michigan enacted safe storage requirements in 2023 as part of a broader gun violence prevention package.² Gun safes, lockboxes, and trigger locks are the standard tools.

A separate rule targets minors and schools. A parent with custody of a minor who knows the minor intends to bring a weapon to a school zone, or who helps them do it, is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $2,000, up to 100 hours of community service, or probation.¹³

If a firearm is lost or stolen, report it to the police agency with jurisdiction within five days of learning about it. Failing to report is a civil violation with a fine of up to $500.¹⁴

Extreme Risk Protection Orders

Michigan’s Extreme Risk Protection Order (ERPO) law took effect in February 2024. An ERPO lets a court temporarily remove firearms from someone who poses a significant danger to themselves or others. Only certain people can petition: family members, current or former spouses, someone who shares a child with the respondent, current or former household members, law enforcement officers, and mental health professionals.¹⁵ A respondent under an ERPO must surrender their firearms for the duration of the order, and possessing firearms while an order is in effect carries additional criminal penalties.

Self-Defense and Stand Your Ground

Michigan’s Self-Defense Act removes any duty to retreat before using force, including deadly force, as long as you aren’t committing a crime at the time. You can use deadly force anywhere you have a legal right to be if you honestly and reasonably believe it’s necessary to prevent imminent death, great bodily harm, or sexual assault to yourself or someone else.¹⁶

For non-deadly force, the standard is the same honest-and-reasonable belief, but the trigger is the imminent unlawful use of force by another person, not necessarily deadly force. You can physically defend yourself without retreating, even if you could safely walk away.¹⁶

Penalties That Catch People Off Guard

Carrying a concealed pistol without a valid CPL, or carrying any pistol in a vehicle without a CPL outside the narrow lawful-purpose exceptions, is a felony punishable by up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $2,500, or both.¹¹ People often assume this is a citation-level offense. It isn’t.

Possessing a firearm after a felony conviction carries up to five years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.¹⁷

Possessing or using a firearm during the commission of another felony triggers a mandatory two-year prison sentence for a first offense, five years for a second, and ten years for a third. That sentence runs consecutively to the sentence for the underlying felony, not concurrently.¹⁸

Brandishing a firearm in public is a misdemeanor punishable by up to 90 days in jail, a fine of up to $100, or both, with exceptions for self-defense and lawful duties by peace officers.¹⁹

Restoring Firearm Rights After a Felony

A felony conviction doesn’t always mean a permanent bar. Michigan law creates two paths.

For non-violent felonies, rights automatically restore three years after you’ve paid all fines, served all prison time, and completed probation or parole.¹⁷

For “specified felonies,” generally those involving the use or threat of physical force, the process is harder. You wait five years after completing your full sentence, then petition the circuit court in your county of residence. The court restores your rights only if you show by clear and convincing evidence that your record and reputation make you unlikely to be a danger to others. You can file one petition every 12 months, and there’s a filing fee unless the court waives it.²⁰

Convictions that have been expunged, set aside, or pardoned generally remove the firearm prohibition too, unless the order says otherwise.¹⁷

1
Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 28.422 – Firearm License
2
State of Michigan. Governor Whitmer Signs Commonsense Gun Violence Prevention Legislation
3
Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 28.422a – Firearms Excerpt
4
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Michigan State Laws and Published Ordinances
5
Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 28.425b – Concealed Pistol License
6
State of Michigan. Concealed Pistol Application and Instructions
7
Michigan House Fiscal Agency. Fiscal Snapshot – Concealed Pistol License Fees
8
State of Michigan. Reciprocity
9
Michigan State Police. Legal Update No. 86 – Transporting Firearms
10
Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 28.425o – Premises on Which Carrying Concealed Weapon Prohibited
11
Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 750.227 – Concealed Weapons
12
Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 750.227d – Transporting or Possessing Firearm in Motor Vehicle
13
Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 750.235a – Parent of Minor Guilty of Misdemeanor
14
Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 28.430 – Theft of Firearm Report Required
15
Michigan Legislature. Extreme Risk Protection Order Act – Senate Bill No. 83
16
Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 780.972 – Self-Defense Act Excerpt
17
Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 750.224f – Possession of Firearm by Person Convicted of Felony
18
Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 750.227b – Felony Firearm
19
Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 750.234e – Brandishing Firearm in Public
20
Michigan Legislature. MCL – Section 28.424 – Restoration of Rights by Circuit Court