LANSING, Mich. — A commission that oversees the Michigan Capitol has formed a committee to study whether to ban or restrict guns inside the building.
The State Capitol Commission met Monday morning via Zoom and voted to seek input from the Legislature and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
The move comes after some lawmakers reported feeling intimidated by armed demonstrators protesting the governor's orders meant to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Attorney General Dana Nessel said Monday in a formal opinion the panel can legally prohibit firearms in the Capitol building.
“I firmly believe in the right to protest, the right to demonstrate, and the right to loudly and strongly object to those causes that move us,” Nessel said. “These rights are so fundamental to our democracy that they are enshrined in the First Amendment of our Constitution. But it is also important to remember that the right to protest does not encompass the right to violence, or the right to harm those individuals with whom you disagree.”
But some commission members wanted time to study the issue. They voted 6-0 to form a sub-committee and further study the legal and logistical implications of a firearms ban.
A lawyer for the panel said the legislature must change the law to regulate firearms at the Capitol.
The sub-committee will move to gather additional legal opinions and report back to the full-committee possibly as early as next week.
"We'll set out an aggressive schedule to deal with the issue," said Gary Randall, the chair of the Michigan State Capitol Commission.
The commission previously banned from the Capitol sticks that attach to signs.
"This is a serious matter and we take it seriously," Randall said. "We have received hundreds of emails and phone calls over the last few days."
"We're probably one of the least political commissions or bodies around the capitol," said Commission Vice-Chair John Truscott. "Yet we have been thrust into a very difficult political issue."
"I do not like what I have seen in the news of the threatening figures in the two chambers, and I do think we need to do something," said Kerry Chartkoff, Michigan State Capitol Commission member. "But we can't do it in haste."
The Commission, which manages the Capitol grounds and building, is made up of the Secretary of the Senate, the Clerk of the House of Representatives, two individuals jointly appointed by the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House, and two individuals appointed by the governor.
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