Thanks for the correction, McKeal. I knew they had some kind of backdoor registration scheme, but could not remember the details. I am glad to hear its coming off the books. It didn't exactly prevent the bad guys in Detroit from making that city the Murder Capitol of the US for several years. What has reduced the murders in the Motor City has been Michigan's adoption of a permit to carry law, which has let honest citizens be armed. This has been an effective deterrent to the kind of lawlessness that has gone on in Detroit for decades. Last year, even the Mayor, and the Anti-gun-owner, Chief of police, announced publicly that they had been wrong- that instead of more senseless shootings in the city, the adoption of the state-wide permit to carry ( shall issue) system had actually lead to a substantial reduction in crime in the city( and the state). I have followed this trend, because I have friends and distant family in Michigan, and because here in Illinois, one of only 2 remaining states without a permit to carry law, have been collecting data from other states close to Illinois with these kinds of reductions in "big City " crime.
We do have to suffer with Chicago's crime statistics, and their anti-gun laws, that only disarm victims. Chicago accounts for more than 80% of all the homicides committed in Illinois. Cook County, which includes Chicago, accounts for a full 85% of all homicides for the state, and we have 101 OTHER counties in the state that together account for the other 15%. Chicago, and Cook County have the most restrictive gun ordinances in the state, while lawful gun ownership in the rest of the state is widespread.
So, congratulations to Michigan for getting rid of a paper work system that accomplished NOTHING in preventing crime, or the bad guys from getting guns. It was intended, and designed to delay the purchase of handguns by law abiding citizens, to discourage gun ownership, and it did accomplish that. But, for interested shooters, it just gave them the resolve to own more guns, so I don't think a " reduction in the number of guns in society" ( one of the state goals of the anti-gun Brady Group, and others) ever occurred.
With the large Shoot held at Kalamazoo, Michigan, every summer, there has to be a lot of retail shops in the SW corner of Michigan that sell Black Powder. I am happy to see responses above that give specific names of stores, already. I hope this poster will get involved in the NMLRA, where he can find the contact information for NMLRA Charter clubs in his state, and then get involved with his local clubs. I found several people in my club who had experience building guns, or equipment, and they were a great help to me when I began putting together my gear. My club also put together an annual order for powder- although back then we drove to a distributor and picked up all the powder, and it was more than 2 cases, usually!--for the membership. The club owned a case of powder to sell to new members and to older members who ran short, as we also didn't have a local retailer that carried black powder, due to Illinois state regulations. Sometimes a can of powder showed up as a " prize" for a monthly shoot,too. The first year I was involved with the powder order, we bought it from the distributor for $2.90 per pound, and sold it to the members for $3.00 per pound. The difference went into the club's meager treasury.
