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    • Bill limiting where CPL holders can carry guns will change, Michigan lawmakers say
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    Bill limiting where CPL holders can carry guns will change, Michigan lawmakers say

    Online Niel Posted on

    Lansing — A portion of a Michigan Senate bill that would significantly limit where people with concealed handgun licenses can carry their weapons will not advance in the state Legislature, a Democratic Senate spokesman said Wednesday.

    On Thursday, the Michigan Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee is scheduled to consider a package of two bills that would change state law to generally ban guns at the Michigan State Capitol, the House Office Building Anderson and the Binsfeld Senate Office Building in Lansing.

    One of the bills also included a proposal to amend the law that would have prohibited those licensed to carry concealed weapons from having their firearms in churches, sports arenas, hospitals and businesses licensed under the liquor control code.

    Great Lakes Gun Rights posted on social media that the proposal, as originally written, would have made it illegal for concealed handgun license holders to carry in “thousands of places where they can carry under current law.”

    “This is not about gun safety,” Great Lakes Gun Rights wrote on the website X. “This is not about going after criminals. It’s about making self-defense virtually illegal in Michigan.”

    But Rosie Jones, a spokeswoman for Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, said the intent of the bills is simply to focus on the Capitol and House and Senate office buildings in downtown Lansing .

    “Changes will be made to the bill to make this clear,” Jones said in a statement.

    In 2023, Michigan Capitol panel votes to ban guns across the board inside the state Capitol. And the entrance to the building now has a gun detection system run by the Michigan State Police.

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

    “We’re not doing this anymore,” Polehanki wrote on social media in April, referring to a picture of armed protesters in the Senate gallery in 2020.

    Polehanki sponsored one of two bills that will go before a Senate committee on Thursday. Sen. Rosemary Bayer, D-West Bloomfield, sponsored the otherwhich featured a broader change in where those with concealed handgun licenses could carry guns.

    On Wednesday, Polehanki said there was a drafting error in Bayer’s bill, which is being fixed.

    However, Tom Lambert, legislative director of Michigan Open Carry, said he believes the language Senate Democrats say they will change was intentional.

    “This should have hit them right away,” Lambert said.

    The bills were first introduced in May.

    Senate Minority Leader Aric Nesbitt, R-Porter Co., said the bills were “a last ditch effort by lame duck Democrats to essentially ban concealed carry statewide.”

    “It’s despicable, and Senate Republicans will fight it every step of the way,” Nesbitt said.

    In the Nov. 5 election, Republicans won control of the state House, giving Michigan Democrats until the end of the year to use their majorities to pass measures the GOP might oppose.

    Anderson House Office Building currently has a screening system in its lobby and an internal policy prohibiting House employees from carrying firearms on House property. The Binsfeld Senate Office Building currently does not have a similar screening system in its lobby.

    Under the bills, an MP with a concealed handgun license would still be able to carry a gun into buildings.

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