Court Opinion

ID: 9685978
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 15:12:11.05883+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:12.243707
License: Public Domain

T. M. Burns, J.
(dissenting). I dissent and would hold that defendant cannot be convicted of violating the felony-firearm statute as an aider and abettor. The pertinent language of that statute provides that a person "who carries or has in his possession a firearm at the time he commits or attempts a felony” is guilty of a felony. MCL 750.227b(l); MSA 28.424(2)(1). I concur in the opinion of this Court in People v Powell, 90 Mich App 273; 282 NW2d 803 (1979), and People v Walter Johnson, 85 Mich App 654; 272 NW2d 605 (1978), which held that this statute requires that a defendant personally carry or have in his possession a firearm in order to be guilty thereunder. This *569conclusion comports with and follows from the well-recognized rule of statutory construction that criminal statutes must be strictly construed. People v Hall, 391 Mich 175, 189; 215 NW2d 166 (1974). Given the unique nature of the felony-firearm statute and the distinct social harm that it was intended to prevent, we should not expand its scope beyond the plain meaning of its words without clear legislative directive.