Citation(s) from the GunPolicy.org literature library
Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. 2024 ‘Maintaining Records of Gun Sales in Michigan.’ Gun Sales. San Francisco, CA: Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. 22 December
Relevant contents
Retention of Sales and Background Check Records in Michigan
Michigan requires all retail firearm sellers to keep a register of all gun sales, including the name, age, occupation and residence of each purchaser, together with a number or other mark identifying the firearm purchased. The register must be open to law enforcement for inspection at all times. There is an unspecified time limit for retention of these records.
Michigan requires handgun sellers to report transaction information to local law enforcement. In Michigan, once a handgun purchase license is issued, four copies are delivered to the applicant by the licensing authority (i.e., local law enforcement). When the handgun sale is made, the seller must fill out the license forms describing the handgun, listing the date of sale and indicating that the handgun was sold to the licensee. Both the seller and the licensee must sign the license forms. The seller may retain a copy of the license as a record of the sale, and the license holder (purchaser) must return the other two copies to local law enforcement within 10 days (one copy is retained by local law enforcement as the official record for a minimum period of six years, and the other is forwarded to the State Police within 48 hours of its receipt). In addition, local law enforcement must electronically enter information about the handgun into the State Police database if it has the ability to electronically enter that information, or otherwise provide that information as the State Police requires…
[Editor's note: The Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence regularly updates its webpages with new data as US gun regulation evolves state by state. For the most up-to-date information on US gun laws, please refer to the Giffords URL below]
Last accessed at:
https://giffords.org/lawcenter/state-laws/maintaining-records-of-gun-sales-in-michigan/