On Monday, May 11 at 11am, the Michigan Capitol Commission will meet to discuss the possession of firearms in the Capitol and on Capitol Square. While the meeting notice does not state the Commission will consider banning firearms specifically, this will likely drive the discussion. Please contact the members of the Commission and respectfully urge them not to prohibit the exercise of a constitutionally protected right by law-abiding citizens on property open to the public.
Michigan law on this matter is clear. Local units of government are prohibited from restricting firearm possession in public. Michigan’s firearm preemption law states in full: “[a] local unit of government shall not impose special taxation on, enact or enforce any ordinance or regulation pertaining to, or regulate in any other manner the ownership, registration, purchase, sale, transfer, transportation, or possession of pistols, other firearms, or pneumatic guns, ammunition for pistols or other firearms, or components of pistols or other firearms, except as otherwise provided by federal law or a law of this state.”
Again, please contact members of the Michigan Capitol Commission before the Monday meeting and respectfully urge them recognize the right of law-abiding gun owners to carry a firearm for self-defense and to oppose any restriction on the carrying of firearms in the Capitol or on Capitol Square.
May 11 meeting agenda: http://capitol.michigan.gov/Content/Files/AgendaMay112020.pdf
Capitol Commission Contact information listed below and can be found here: http://capitol.michigan.gov/ContactCommission
Gary Randall (Chair)
Clerk of the House
State Capitol, Room H-70
Lansing, MI 48909
(517) 373-0135
John Truscott (Vice-Chair)
President, Truscott Rossman
124 W. Allegan, Suite 800
Lansing, MI 48933
(517) 487-9320
Joan Bauer
jeb1211@sbcglobal.net
Kerry Chartkoff
Capitol Historian Emeritus
joekerrychartkoff@gmail.com
William C. Kandler
kandlerw@krkm.com
Margaret O’Brien
Secretary of the Senate
State Capitol, Room S-5
Lansing, MI 48909
(517) 373-2400