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

Lansing — A portion of a Michigan Senate bill that would significantly limit the places where individuals with concealed pistol licenses can carry their weapons won’t advance in the state Legislature, a spokeswoman for Senate Democrats said Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Michigan Senate’s Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee is scheduled to consider a two-bill package that would alter state law to generally prohibit guns at the Michigan State Capitol, the Anderson House Office Building and the Binsfeld Senate Office Building in Lansing.

One of the bills also featured a proposed change in law that would have barred those licensed to carry concealed weapons from having their firearms inside churches, sports arenas, hospitals and businesses licensed through the state’s liquor control code.

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

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

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

“There will be changes made to the bill to make that clear,” Jones said in a statement.

In 2023, the Michigan Capitol Commission voted to generally ban weapons inside the state Capitol. And the entrance to the building now features a weapon detection system manned by Michigan State Police troopers.

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.

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

Polehanki sponsored one of the two bills that will go before the Senate committee on Thursday. Sen. Rosemary Bayer, D-West Bloomfield, sponsored the other, which featured the broader change on where those with concealed pistol licenses could carry weapons.

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

However, Tom Lambert, legislative director for the organization Michigan Open Carry, said he believes the language that Senate Democrats say they’ll change was intentional.

“This should have jumped out at them immediately,” Lambert said.

The bills were first introduced in May.

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

“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.

The Anderson House Office Building currently has a screening system in its lobby and an internal policy that bans employees of the House from being able to carry firearms on House property. The Binsfeld Senate Office Building currently has no similar screening system in its lobby.

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

cmauger@detroitnews.com