Dem AG candidate Eli Savit: ‘Common sense’ to ban bump stocks, ghost guns
Washtenaw County Prosecutor Eli Savit (right) is a Democrat running to be Michigan’s next attorney general. At a roundtable on gun violence on Friday, Savit said he hopes the state Legislature reintroduces bills banning bump stocks and ghost guns next term. Photo credit: Jordyn Hermani/Bridge Michigan.
“From a legislative priority, I would like to see both of those considered once again in the next legislative session,” Savit said, referencing measures approved last year by the Democratic-led state Senate but declared “dead on arrival” in the House by Republican Speaker Matt Hall.
The two-term Washtenaw County prosecutor was in Detroit on Friday speaking with lawmakers, community members and anti-gun violence advocates as part of a roundtable event with Gabby Giffords.
Giffords formerly represented Arizona in the US House and became a prominent gun violence prevention advocate after suffering a severe brain injury in a 2011 shooting in which six others died.
The Giffords PAC recently endorsed Savit, calling him “a strong gun safety champion.”
Savit will take on Eaton County Prosecutor Doug Lloyd, a Republican, for attorney general in the Nov. 3 election. Neither had a primary opponent, meaning the race to be the state’s top prosecutor has been relatively quiet to date.
Gun laws
At Friday’s event, Savit expressed support for Michigan’s safe storage, universal background check and extreme risk protection order laws that Democrats enacted in 2023, saying that while the Second Amendment is “constitutionally protected” and “part of our culture in this country,” there should still be guardrails on gun ownership.
With a clear divide between Republicans and Democrats, any additional changes to Michigan gun laws would likely require “trifecta” control of state government by either major party, which both are vying for in November elections that will decide the state House, Senate, governor and more.
Savit, who is competing to be the state’s top law enforcement officer, couldn’t change gun rules on his own but said Friday he’d like to see the Legislature make changes.
Bump stocks, which he’d like to ban, are an attachment for a semiautomatic rifle that replaces the standard stock, enabling rifles to fire hundreds of rounds per minute, more like a fully automatic machine gun.
Ghost guns, which Savit would also like to ban, are unserialized firearms put together by components purchased either as a kit or as separate pieces. The lack of a serial number makes them effectively untraceable, which Savit said “makes it harder for law enforcement to solve crimes.”
‘Soft on crime’ criticism
Lloyd and other Republicans have argued Savit is “soft on crime” due to a number of policies implemented during his time as Washtenaw County prosecutor, including ending cash bail and decriminalizing both psychedelic mushrooms and consensual sex work.
The Detroit News this week reported Savit’s decision to not charge anyone after emergency workers found 500-pounds of black-market marijuana in Ypsilanti Township in 2025, prompting criticism from Republicans.
“Michiganders need an attorney general who takes being the state’s top cop seriously,” Lloyd said in a statement ahead of Savit’s roundtable. “It is not a prosecutor’s job to create law or pick and choose which laws they will enforce. It’s a prosecutor’s job to enforce the law.”
Asked Friday how he’d prevent violent crime if elected attorney general, Savit vouched for continued, dedicated funding for community violence prevention efforts in the state budget, saying that by the time police and prosecutors get involved in gun cases “it is already too late.”
He pushed back on claims he’s “soft on crime,” pointing to convictions in Washtenaw County and encouraging “the folks that say that, especially with respect to gun violence, to go to the prisons where we have successfully gotten convictions for people who pull triggers on guns.”
Overall crime has trended downward in Michigan over the last five years, according to publicly available data from the Michigan State Police.
Violent crime in Washtenaw County also declined between 2023 and 2026, according to the latest publicly available data. Savit took office Jan. 1, 2021.
The county recorded 578 violent crime incidents in 2023, 572 violent crime incidents in 2024, 471 in 2025 and 275 so far in 2026. Of those, 303 were firearm offenses, including 258 classified as “assault offenses.”
This article first appeared on Bridge Michigan and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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