The Michigan State Capitol Commission chair says visitors to the building have adjusted to new security measures put in place in the past year.
In the summer of 2023, the commission voted to prohibit firearms in the building. Lawmakers with a concealed pistol license are exempt from the ban.
The commission had banned the open carry of guns in January 2021 following an armed protest in the Capitol building over the state’s COVID-19 restrictions in April of 2020, as well as the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Michigan State Capitol Commission Chair Bill Kandler says even though he expected more of a pushback, most people don’t have a problem with the pass-through weapon detectors that were installed after the ban took effect.
“I think people are accustomed to going to concerts and any museums, anywhere you have to go through …security equipment,” he said.
That’s even when visitors with firearms were stopped by security.
“People went and took their gun and left and put it in the car, or whatever they did with them … They came back without it,” he said. “We've not really had any really big issues.”
The Capitol also installed AI software a year ago that can detect the shape of weapons through security camera footage in real time.
Earlier in December, the state Senate passed legislation to codify the Capitol Commission’s ban into law. The measure did not make it out of the House before the session ended.
The Michigan Attorney General issued a formal opinion in 2020 saying the commission has the authority to enact the ban, regardless of state law.
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