Honorable Donald A. Burge
AGO 4440
No. 4440
Michigan Attorney General Opinion
September 25, 1967
PISTOLS:
Purchase License; Exceptions, Under Section 2 of Act 372,
Public Acts of 1927 as amended, license is not required for
retail purchase of pistols of ancient design, where such
pistols, though being currently manufactured, are not made
for modern ammunition.
Within
the exceptions provision of said Section 2, the requirement
"not made for modern ammunition" applies to
"relics" and "curios" as well as to
"antiques."
Honorable
Donald A. Burge
Prosecuting
Attorney
Kalamazoo
County
County
Building
Kalamazoo,
Michigan 49006
I
herewith reply to your request for my opinion interpreting
Section 2 of Act 372, Public Acts of 1927 as amended,
particularly as applied to pistols which, though currently
manufactured in sizeable volume, are of ancient design and
not made for modern ammunition.
From
your letter I understand that quantities of muzzle loading
pistols, newly manufactured but of ancient design (flintlock,
percussion cap, etc.), have been offered for sale in your
county. They are not made for modern ammunition.
Subject
Section 2 of Act 372, Public Acts of 1927 as amended (M.S.A.
1965 Cum, Supp. § 28.92 et seq.; C.L. 1948, §
28.422 et seq.), after first stating, among other
requirements, that "No person shall purchase a pistol
without first having obtained a license therefor as
prescribed herein....." thereafter declares the
following exception:
"... The provisions of this section shall not apply to
the purchase of pistols from wholesalers by dealers
regularly engaged in the business of selling pistols at
retail, nor to the sale, barter, or exchange of pistols
kept solely as relics, curios, or antiques not made for
modern ammunition or permanently deactivated. .
." (Emphasis added.)
Precisely
considered therefor, our question is whether such pistols
require licensing under the general provisions of Section 2,
or fall within the quoted exception. This of course involves
construction of the statutory language of said exception.
The
object of statutory construction is to ascertain and carry
into effect the intention of the legislature. Elba
Township v. Gratiot, 287 Mich. 372 (1939);
Smith v. City Commissioner-of Grand Rapids,
281 Mich. 235 (1937).
From
Act 372 it is inferable that the basic concern of the
Legislature here was with pistols having a real potential for
unlawful use. This impression of general legislative intent
is borne out by the following language of the exception:
". . . pistols kept solely as relics, curios,
or antiques not made for modern ammunition or permanently
...