Second Amendment Groups Target Purple State’s Decades-Long ‘Permission Slip’ Scheme With New Lawsuit

Michigan gun-rights groups are teaming with the National Rifle Association to challenge the state’s permit-to-purchase law in a federal lawsuit.

Michigan Open Carry, Michigan Gun Owners (MGO), the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners (MCRGO) and the NRA filed the suit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan, Michigan Open Carry said in a Sunday X post. An attorney for one of the gun-rights organization said the scheme, which dates back to 1927, clearly violated the Second Amendment.

“Michigan cannot require law‑abiding citizens to obtain a discretionary government permission slip before exercising a fundamental constitutional right,” MGO attorney James Makowski said in the release.

Individual gun owners and firearm‑rights organizations have filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan challenging the constitutionality of the state’s firearm license‑to‑purchase and pistol registration scheme.

The suit…

— Michigan Open Carry (@MichOpenCarry) June 15, 2026

Thirteen states have some form of permit-to-purchase or gun licensing provisions, according to Giffords Law Center. Illinois, which has a broader licensing process, was sued in May by the New Civil Liberties Alliance, which is seeking to have the scheme tossed on Second Amendment grounds.

Since the Supreme Court’s June 2022 ruling in New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, pro-Second Amendment organizations have vigorously been challenging both newly-enacted laws and statutes that have been on the books for decades, including the National Firearms Act of 1934.

“The newly filed case in Michigan highlights the growing trend of multi-layered and redundant permitting schemes which have popped up around the country,” Second Amendment Foundation Senior Director of Legal Operations William Sack told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “The intent of these permit regimes is clear: make the exercise of law abiding Americans’ fundamental rights more burdensome, more expensive, and more time consuming. This sort of treatment would never be tolerated in the context of any other rights, and it cannot be tolerated for people’s Second Amendment rights.”

Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the DCNF.

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