Michigan's 8-Year Firearm Ban After a Domestic Violence Misdemeanor

Since February 13, 2024, a Michigan conviction for a "misdemeanor involving domestic violence" carries a state firearm ban. The person may not possess, use, transport, sell, purchase, carry, ship, receive, or distribute a firearm or ammunition in Michigan until 8 years have passed after the sentence is fully completed.^[1][3]

This page covers the state rule only: which convictions trigger it, when the clock starts, what a violation costs, and what remains unsettled. Federal law has its own, longer ban, explained in the federal firearm ban under 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(9).

What does MCL 750.224f(5) say?

The subsection reads: "A person convicted of a misdemeanor involving domestic violence shall not possess, use, transport, sell, purchase, carry, ship, receive, or distribute a firearm or ammunition in this state until the expiration of 8 years after all of the following circumstances exist."^[1]

The provision was added to MCL 750.224f by 2023 PA 201, effective February 13, 2024. Before then, the section restricted only people convicted of felonies, and its official catchline still refers to a "person convicted of felony."^[3] Older articles that say a Michigan misdemeanor cannot cost a person gun rights under state law were written before that change.^[3]

The ban reaches ammunition as well as firearms. The statute defines ammunition as "any projectile that, in its current state, may be expelled from a firearm by an explosive."^[7]

Which convictions count as a "misdemeanor involving domestic violence"?

The statute does not leave the phrase open. It lists nine Michigan offenses by subsection number.^[8] MCOLES, the state agency that licenses police officers, has described the property, stalking and telecommunications offenses on the list as offenses committed "with a domestic relationship."^[8][9]

Listed provision	Offense
MCL 750.81(2)	Domestic assault[8]
MCL 750.81(4)	Second-offense domestic assault, if both the current violation and the previous conviction were for assaulting a person described in section 81(2)[8]
MCL 750.81a(2)	Aggravated domestic assault[8]
MCL 750.115(2)	Breaking and entering, or entering without breaking, with a domestic relationship[8]
MCL 750.145n(5)	Vulnerable adult abuse[8]
MCL 750.377a(1)(d) or (f)	Malicious destruction of personal property, with a domestic relationship[8]
MCL 750.380(5) or (7)	Malicious destruction of a house, barn or building, with a domestic relationship[8]
MCL 750.411h(2)(c)	Stalking, with a domestic relationship[8]
MCL 750.540e(1)(h)	Malicious use of a telecommunications service, with a domestic relationship[8]

Two points follow from the list. First, ordinary assault under MCL 750.81(1) is not on it.^[8] Second, the list is not limited to Michigan convictions: a conviction under a local ordinance, another state's law, or federal law counts if it substantially corresponds to a listed offense or is "specifically designated as domestic violence."^[10]

Who falls within the domestic assault statute in the first place (spouses and former spouses, dating partners, people with a child in common, and household members) is covered in who counts as a domestic relationship. The underlying offenses are explained in domestic assault under MCL 750.81, aggravated domestic assault, and Michigan's stalking law.

When do the 8 years start?

The period does not start at conviction. It starts when all three of these circumstances exist:^[2]

1. The person has paid all fines imposed for the violation.^[2]
2. The person has served all terms of imprisonment imposed for the violation.^[2]
3. The person has successfully completed all conditions of probation imposed for the violation.^[2]

In practice the last of those three dates controls. Someone sentenced to probation whose fines were paid early would count the 8 years from the day probation was successfully completed, not from the plea or sentencing date.^[2] For that reason the first step in working out an end date is to get the court's own record of when the fines were paid and when probation was discharged.

A different 8-year period governs concealed pistol licenses, and it is measured differently: it looks back 8 years from the date of the license application to the conviction.^[11] The two clocks are compared in concealed pistol licenses and firearm purchases after a domestic violence case.

What is the penalty for violating the ban?

A person who possesses, uses, transports, sells, purchases, carries, ships, receives, or distributes a firearm in violation of the section is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 5 years or a fine of not more than $5,000, or both.^[4] The same penalty applies to possessing, using, transporting, selling, carrying, shipping, or distributing ammunition.^[4] A single criminal transaction involving ammunition is one offense regardless of how much ammunition is involved.^[12]

Other people can be charged too. A seller who knows the buyer is prohibited under MCL 750.224f and sells that person a firearm or ammunition commits a felony punishable by up to 10 years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both.^[13]

A new model jury instruction for this offense, M Crim JI 11.38b, was proposed with a public comment deadline of February 1, 2026. Under the proposal the judge decides whether the earlier offense is a "misdemeanor involving domestic violence," and the jury decides whether the defendant was in fact convicted of it.^[14] Whether the instruction was adopted, and in what final wording, was not confirmed for this library.

What else is blocked while the ban is running?

A person prohibited under MCL 750.224f is not qualified for a Michigan license to purchase a firearm and cannot be issued a concealed pistol license.^[15] Since February 13, 2024, a license is needed in Michigan to purchase a firearm that is not a pistol as well as a pistol.^[16]

MCOLES has also stated that the ban contains no exception for police officers: a licensed officer with a qualifying conviction inside the 8-year period cannot lawfully possess a firearm.^[17] See police officers, service members and the firearm ban.

Does it apply to convictions from before February 13, 2024?

This is unsettled. MCL 750.224f(5) does not say whether it reaches convictions entered before its effective date.^[9] MCOLES has published its "interpretation and belief" that the ban does apply to earlier convictions, reasoning that the Legislature knew how to limit the prohibition to later convictions "and chose not to do so."^[9] That is one agency's reading. No court decision on the question was located when this page was prepared, as of October 2026.^[9]

Anyone with an older qualifying conviction should treat this as an open legal question to take to a lawyer before possessing a firearm, not as something a web page can answer. The federal ban is a separate law with no built-in end date, and it does not depend on how the Michigan question is resolved.^[18][5]

Can the ban end early?

There is no petition to shorten it. Michigan's circuit-court restoration procedure, MCL 28.424, is available only to people barred under the "specified felony" subsections; the misdemeanor ban simply runs until the 8 years expire.^[6]

The section does, however, stop applying if the conviction itself goes away. MCL 750.224f "does not apply to a conviction that has been expunged or set aside, or for which the person has been pardoned, unless the expunction, order, or pardon expressly provides that the person shall not possess a firearm or ammunition."^[19] A misdemeanor domestic assault conviction can be set aside by application, but only after a 5-year waiting period.^[20] The process is explained in expunging a domestic violence conviction and can gun rights be restored?

The ban is written for "a person convicted."^[1] Michigan's deferral statute says that a discharge and dismissal under MCL 769.4a is without adjudication of guilt and is not a conviction "for purposes of disqualifications or disabilities imposed by law upon conviction of a crime."^[21] What that means during and after a deferral is discussed in does a 769.4a deferral count as a conviction?

What about guns the person already owns?

The statute bars possession; it does not describe what an owner is to do with firearms already in the home. No Michigan statute or benchbook section reviewed for this library sets out a step-by-step surrender or transfer procedure for a person convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor.^[22] What Michigan law does say is that firearms carried, possessed, or used contrary to the weapons chapter of the Penal Code are forfeited to the state.^[22] Because the right answer depends on the court, the order and federal law as well, this is a question to raise with a lawyer at or before sentencing rather than afterward.

What people get wrong

• "The 8 years run from the conviction date." They run from the point at which fines are paid, imprisonment is served, and probation is successfully completed.^[2]
• "After 8 years you are clear." Only under Michigan law. The federal ban in 18 USC 922(g)(9) contains no time limit, apart from a 5-year rule for a single dating-relationship conviction.^[5][23]
• "You can petition the court to get the right back sooner." MCL 28.424 covers only specified-felony bans.^[6]
• "It only covers guns." The subsection names ammunition, and the ammunition penalty is the same 5-year felony.^[1][4]

Firearm restrictions that apply earlier, while a case is still open, are a separate subject: see firearms while the case is pending and PPOs and firearms.