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Budget request includes money to enforce Capitol gun ban

"No weapons sign, no guns allowed, omaha, nebraska" by shannonpatrick17 is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

Governor Gretchen Whitmer has asked for five million dollars to ban hire personnel and install metal detectors to enforce a ban on guns in the state Capitol.

That’s after the Michigan State Capitol Commission adopted a ban on openly carrying gun into the building.

The open carry ban won’t apply to law enforcement or people with concealed pistol licenses. But there’s still no way to know whether people are carrying a concealed gun legally or illegally into the Capitol.

“And there’s a clear way to doing that and it is not having guns in our capitol which then removes the opportunity for someone to get shot in our capitol.”

Lieutenant Governor Garlin Glichrist says the Capitol should metal detectors just like courthouses and many other government buildings.

“This is a matter of keeping people safe or not keeping people safe.”

The request would have to be approved by the Legislature, but Republican leaders have not signed on. That’s despite April’s armed protest in Lansing and the assault on the US Capitol.