Michigan State Police have beefed up security at the Capitol Building after rocker Ted Nugent carried a firearm inside the building despite a ban.
Michigan Capitol Commission Chair Bill Kandler said state police started stationing another trooper at the building’s north entrance in the days after the June 25 incident to help screen visitors for firearms.
Nugent, a Michigan native and avid hunter, was brought in June 25 to testify before a joint House committee about accountability for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
As he testified, some lawmakers realized that Nugent had a firearm on his person. Guns are banned in the Capitol, with exception to lawmakers, on-duty law enforcement and other security personnel.
Michigan State Police said the weapons detection system at the north entrance alerted police of a possible weapon when Nugent entered. However, the sole trooper staffing the entrance didn’t notice the alert until Nugent had already left the screening area.
“The (firearm detection) equipment all worked fine,” Kandler said. “It was just human error and it’s not a good thing. But adding another person there, which we were planning to do anyway, eventually, I think it will solve the problem. I hope it will.”
The north entrance is a smaller one and used mainly by staff and contractors, Kandler said. The building’s other entrances all have at least two troopers stationed there.
Michigan State Police did not comment on the added security.
“We are committed to the safety and security of all who work at and visit the Capitol, and we’ll be reviewing this situation to ensure it does not happen again,” said MSP spokesperson Shanon Banner.
State troopers waited until Nugent completed his testimony before approaching him to explain that firearms are banned inside the Capitol.
Kandler and some lawmakers said police should’ve acted sooner.
“As soon as (the firearm) was discovered, that that happened, it should have been removed immediately,” Kandler said.
State Rep. Laurie Pohutsky, D-Livonia, was one of the lawmakers who noticed Nugent’s gun and alerted security during the hearing.
She previously said she hopes MSP enacts policy to always and immediately enforce the gun ban regardless of wherever the person with the firearm is inside the Capitol.
“Someone who should not have had a firearm in the Capitol had one, and that should not be permitted,” she said. “I don’t think that Ted Nugent was trying to put anyone in harm’s way.
“But if someone else is permitted, it doesn’t matter how far away they are from the scanner when someone realizes it, they should not be allowed to carry a firearm around in a place where they are not supposed to have it. That can be very, very dangerous.”
The Michigan Capitol Commission that Kandler chairs is in charge of managing, maintaining and restoring the Capitol Building and its grounds.
It’s also the body that issued a ban on open carry in the Capitol in 2021 and then concealed carry in 2023. The bans were prompted by armed protesters who entered the Capitol in April 2020.
Open and concealed carry of firearms is forbidden inside the building for everyone but Capitol security and other on-duty law enforcement personnel. Lawmakers are also allowed to carry concealed pistols.
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