AG Dana Nessel insists guns can be banned from Michigan Capitol in formal opinion

Todd Spangler
Detroit Free Press

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel issued a formal opinion Monday morning saying it is within the authority of a panel overseeing the State Capitol to ban firearms from the 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.” 

She also made clear in the opinion that she does not believe legislation is necessary to prohibit guns in the Capitol.

The opinion was issued just hours before the Michigan Capitol Commission was set to discuss the question of barring guns from the Capitol in the wake of a protest that took place there April 30. It also formalizes a stance she outlined in a letter sent to the commission late last week.

Officials had raised questions whether last week's letter was enough to base a decision on. It was unclear, however, whether the commission would take any immediate action at its meeting at 11 a.m. to overturn a longstanding rule allowing firearms inside the Capitol with the threat of a court challenge almost certain to follow.

Last week, John Truscott, a Republican and the commission's vice chairman, said an attorney the commission had contacted apparently is set to advise that guns can only be banned from the Capitol by legislation.

But Nessel, in her opinion Monday, said that is not the case, adding that, "In Michigan, the concept of 'open carry' does not provide the unfettered right to bring firearms into any public space." She noted prominently that the Michigan Supreme Court prohibited weapons through administrative order, not a law passed by the Legislature.

"The Commission ... is a statutorily created instrumentality of state government, vested with broad authority to 'operate and manage' the Capitol site," she wrote.

Images of protesters with firearms at the Capitol led to the current call by some for guns to be banned from the building while gun rights activists argued they should continue to be allowed as an exercise of Second Amendment freedoms.

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

Demonstrators who went to the Capitol on April 30 were arguing against Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's decision to extend a state of emergency because of the coronavirus pandemic. At one point, some of them, carrying rifles, gathered outside the House chamber, shouting to be allowed inside. 

Some protesters also sat in the Senate gallery with firearms, causing some lawmakers to don bulletproof vests and express concerns for their safety. "Directly above me, men with rifles yelling at us," state Sen. Dayna Polehanki, D-Livonia, posted on Twitter, along with a photo. 

Firearms have long been allowed into the Capitol despite not being allowed in other state buildings. Truscott told the Free Press last week that it's the commission's understanding that a 1931 law permitted the carrying of concealed weapons with a license in the Capitol and that open carry is presumed to be allowed because there is no specific prohibition.

Contact Todd Spangler attspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler. Read more onMichigan politics and sign up for ourelections newsletter.