Michigan Democrats Exempt Themselves From Capitol Gun Ban

As Tom wrote about yesterday, the Democratic lawmakers who are about to lose complete control of the Michigan legislature are making the most of their lame duck session, including a push to ban “deceptively colored firearms”. 

On Thursday, the state Senate approved another gun control measure; this one a ban on firearms on the state Capitol grounds and buildings. Though the ability to lawfully carry has generally been allowed in those places for years without issue, last year the Michigan Capitol Commission, which oversees the physical buildings and grounds, put a “no guns allowed” policy in place. Now Democrats are hoping to codify that rule into law

Sen. Dayna Polehanki, D-Livonia, has previously called for putting the commission’s policy into state law, noting that thousands of students visit the Capitol for field trips each year.

Opponents, like Sen. Joe Bellino, R-Monroe, have labeled the bills an infringement on Second Amendment rights.

“Anyone brandishing a weapon in a threatening manner in the Capitol should and is being held accountable under existing laws,” Bellino contended on Thursday.

Under the bills, a lawmaker with a concealed pistol license would still be able to carry a weapon in the buildings.

Isn’t that special? While the general public and even Capitol staffers must leave their guns at home (or in their vehicle, if they’re not on Capitol property), the lawmakers who imposed that edict are still able to bear arms without fear of arrest or prosecution. 

The two bills instituting the gun ban didn’t have a single Republican cosponsor. In fact, every Republican state senator in the chamber on Thursday voted against them. It was Democrats who authored and approved the new “gun-free zone”, including the exemption for legislators. 

Every time I hear a Democrat (or occasionally, a Republican) politician say something like “I support the Second Amendment, but we can still have common sense gun laws like [fill in the blank]”, I always wonder what that “support” actually looks like. Is there an example of a gun control law that would go too far for them? When they’re criminalizing the sale and possession of commonly owned firearms, making it illegal to carry a gun for self defense almost everywhere, and sending guys like Dexter Taylor to a maximum security prison for ten years for the “violent” crime of making his own guns for personal use, it doesn’t seem like it. 

Now we know that there is a policy that goes too far, at least for the 20 Democrat senators in Lansing. The pure and principled gun control position would have been a blanket prohibition on carry for everyone (except perhaps for off-duty law enforcement officers, who routinely get a pass from groups like Everytown and Brady). Instead, the Democrats in the Senate chamber voted in lockstep to make the Capitol complex a “gun-free zone” for everyone but themselves. 

Gun laws are for little people, apparently, and legislative membership has its privileges, like being able to exercise a civil right when others face punishment ranging from a civil fine for a first offense to a felony punishable by up to four years in prison for a third offense. The hypocrisy is staggering, though it helps to explain why Democrats lost complete control of the legislature in last month’s elections. Arrogance and elitism don’t sit well with voters, and both are on full display with the Senate’s passage of SB 857 and SB 858.