How buying a gun in Detroit works
Pick an FFL dealer near you that accepts shipped transfers and name it at checkout. We confirm their license and ship the firearm to them. Ammunition, optics and parts ship straight to your door where Michigan law allows.
Lights, lasers, mounts and batteries are accessories and ship to your door; the rules below matter only when you order a pistol or rifle to put them on. Michigan dealers may sell a handgun on the federal check alone or against a licence to purchase or a concealed pistol licence, and a pistol sales record goes to the police within ten days. Michigan's 2024 safe storage law applies wherever a minor may be present. Since February 2024 every firearm sale in Michigan, private or dealer, needs a background check. There is no waiting period; federal age limits apply, 21 for a handgun from a dealer and 18 for a long gun.
Dealers in these communities all work for Detroit-area buyers:
- Dearborn
- Livonia
- Westland
- Taylor
- Canton
- Southgate
- Warren
- Southfield
- Grosse Pointe
Carrying a gun in Wayne County
Michigan requires a concealed pistol licence to carry concealed; open carry of a registered pistol is lawful without one. Licences are issued by the Wayne County Clerk to residents 21 and over who complete a training course. Schools, courtrooms, hospitals and posted property remain off limits.
Hunting near Detroit
Michigan's firearm deer season runs November 15 to 30 statewide, with archery from October 1 and muzzleloader in December. In the Limited Firearm Deer Zone across the southern Lower Peninsula only shotguns, muzzleloaders, handguns and straight-walled rifle cartridges are legal; centerfire rifles are legal further north. Antlerless licences are sold by deer management unit.
Wayne County is in the Limited Firearm Deer Zone, so deer are hunted with shotguns, muzzleloaders, handguns and straight-wall rifles from November 15; the Pontiac Lake and Island Lake ranges are the nearest state facilities.
Michigan's concealed pistol licence is needed to carry concealed; the DNR ranges in Oakland and Livingston counties have staffed pistol lines for zeroing a light-equipped gun.
Public shooting ranges near Detroit
These ranges are run by or officially listed by a state wildlife agency, a state forest or a national forest. Most ask for a hunting licence, a range permit or a small day fee, and hours change with the season, so check the agency page before you go.
Source: State wildlife agency, state forest and U.S. Forest Service public range listings, September 2026. Distances are approximate; call or check the agency site before you drive out.