Michigan is considering move to ban guns inside state Capitol Building

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Michigan is considering move to ban guns inside state Capitol Building

LANSING – The Michigan Capitol Commission has sought legal advice and could make a decision Monday on whether guns should be banned inside the Capitol, the vice chairman of the commission said Tuesday.

The long-standing practice of allowing open carry of firearms inside the Capitol came under national scrutiny Thursday when demonstrators, some carrying long guns, pressed together outside the entrance to the House chamber and shouted to be allowed inside.

Earlier, several hundred protesters gathered on the Capitol lawn, urging the Legislature not to extend Michigan's coronavirus state of emergency, which provides the legal basis for Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's stay-at-home order and other emergency orders. Whitmer extended the state of emergency through May 28 without legislative approval. The stay-at-home order runs through May 15.

Demonstrators carrying rifles entered the Senate public gallery and shouted at state senators on the chamber floor.

The demonstration included the display on the Capitol lawn of at least one Confederate flag and a sign reading, "Tyrants get the rope." At least one lawmaker, state Sen. Sylvia Santana, D-Detroit, wore a bulletproof vest at her desk.

John Truscott, a Republican and vice chairman of the six-member Michigan State Capitol Commission, which oversees the building, said he was "very disturbed" by what he saw Thursday.

"We do not like seeing guns brought into the building — loaded guns — and I'm a Second Amendment advocate," Truscott said, speaking on the "Morning Wake-Up" radio show with Dave Akerly on WILS-AM.

"It's the rule of law that will dictate what happens here," and "we're looking into it."

Truscott told the Free Press on Tuesday that the commission's reading of a 1931 law is that carrying concealed weapons with a license is allowed inside the building. There is no specific prohibition against open carry, so it is presumed to be allowed, he said.

It also may be the case that the commission does not have jurisdiction over which items are carried into the Capitol, said Trustcott, who believes a ban on signs inside the Capitol is pursuant to a state law.

"We’ll be getting a more comprehensive briefing at our meeting on Monday," he said.

Guns are banned from other state government buildings, and one of the issues of legal research is whether the Capitol has any special status under current law that would prevent the commission from banning them there as well, Truscott said.

"One way to easily deal with this would be to pass a law," but that would require an act of the Legislature, he said.

The main job of the Capitol Commission is to maintain the Capitol and its grounds and ensure public access. Members are appointed by the governor, the House and the Senate.

There are no metal detectors at the Capitol entrances and long guns and handguns in holsters are routinely carried into the Capitol on annual "Second Amendment March" days at which enthusiasts express their Second Amendment rights.

"We haven't had any issues with them at all," as they have been "extremely respectful," never acting in such a way that they appeared to be trying to "commandeer the building," Truscott said.

On Thursday, House sergeants and Michigan State Police troopers formed a line in front of the entrance to the chamber floor — which is off limits to the public— as a group of demonstrators, most not wearing masks, pressed up close in violation of social distancing guidelines and shouted: "Let us in."

A Michigan State Police spokesman downplayed the incident at the time.

“There’s always a risk, but we were prepared for it," Lt. Brian Oleksyk said Thursday. "People are allowed to exercise their right to freedom of speech and their right to open carry. We always kept an eye on it.”

More: Capitol protesters urge an end to Michigan's state of emergency

More: Republican congressman Paul Mitchell sues Gov. Whitmer over handling of coronavirus

He said "people were just venting their frustrations in a loud manner" outside the House chamber, but "once they were able to do that ... people were pleasant and polite.”

Truscott said signs are banned inside the Capitol because signs have done damage to the paint or other fixtures of the historic building in the past.

At least one state senator expressed worry Thursday when she saw demonstrators shouting and carrying firearms in the public gallery.

"Directly above me, men with rifles yelling at us," state Sen. Dayna Polehanki, D-Livonia, posted on Twitter, along with a photo. "Some of my colleagues who own bulletproof vests are wearing them. I have never appreciated our Sergeants-at-Arms more than today."

Santana donned a bulletproof vest, according to a Facebook post and photo by her husband, former state Rep. Harvey Santana.

"It's a sad day in America when you have to strap on a bulletproof vest to your wife so she can sit in an open space and do her job. Why?" Harvey Santana asked. He said it was "because angry people armed with semi-automatic sporting rifles and Confederate flags decided to try and enter the chamber floors."

Tom Lambert, president of Michigan Open Carry, Inc., said there has never been a safety incident at the Second Amendment March, which has been held at the Capitol for at least a dozen years. There was also no safety incident Thursday and there is no evidence that anyone carrying a firearm was pushing to get onto the House floor, he said.

"We don't curtail rights over the subjective fears of people," Lambert said.

"Our constitutionally protected rights are most sensitive when we interact with government."

Thursday's demonstrators were nearly all white, and observers have questioned whether racism has been a factor in how guns inside the Capitol have been treated at different times.

John Lindstrom, who recently retired as publisher of the Capitol newsletter Gongwer after covering the Capitol for 42 years, told Bridge Magazine that temporary metal detectors were used in 1999, when demonstrators who were mostly from predominantly black Detroit objected to then-Gov. John Engler's plan for a state takeover of Detroit Public Schools.

“A lot of (protesters) were very upset and argued they were being discriminated against, treated badly, because they were forced to go through a metal detector," Lindstrom told Bridge.

In Thursday's protest, Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, R-Clarklake, said most of the demonstrators acted properly, but a few conducted themselves like "jackasses." House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering, told Michigan Information & Research Service Monday that he's not interested in banning guns inside the Capitol because it is the "people's house" and everyone has the right to express their constitutional rights.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4. Read more on Michigan politics and sign up for our elections newsletter.

grizzlyboob on May 5th, 2020 at 17:35 UTC »

I was blown away when I read that carrying protest signs into the capital was illegal but carrying guns was totally fine.

Asconce on May 5th, 2020 at 16:46 UTC »

But how will they get their point across without threats of deadly force??

FakeEpistemologist on May 5th, 2020 at 16:39 UTC »

Should have been a given