Two bills to codify the state Capitol gun ban were reported to the Senate floor on Thursday – but not before a gun advocate and known provocateur used a racial slur aimed at the committee chair’s Black constituents in Detroit.
Members of the Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee reported SB 857 and SB 858 , the latter of which moved with an adopted S-1 substitute. It was the first hearing for the package put forward by Sen. Rosemary Bayer (D-Keego Harbor) and Sen. Dayna Polehanki (D-Livonia), who urged their colleagues to codify what the Michigan State Capitol Commission already adopted in its policy barring most firearms in the building.
Bayer said the bills would ban firearms in the Capitol, the Binsfeld Senate Office Building and the Anderson House Office Building, the latter two of which are not regulated by the Capitol Commission. The penalty for violating the ban is a misdemeanor with a fine of $100 and or 90 days in jail.
The Bayer bill was amended as a substitute because of a drafting error, she said, as it could have affected where CPL holders could have legally carried their licensed firearms. Gun supporters criticized the language, but it was ultimately removed.
Tom Lambert, director of Michigan Open Carry, testified Thursday and said the bills were “a solution in search of a problem” because there has not been a violent gun related incident at the Capitol in his 15 years of lobbying on behalf of gun rights or work as a legislative staffer.
Nick Baggia, representing the National Rifle Association, also said the bills acknowledged the need to be armed by granting the right of closed carry to lawmakers but not average citizens. The move, he said, would in effect create two classes of citizens; those who had the right to be armed at the Capitol and those who would not have that right.
Rep. Felicia Brabec (D-Pittsfield Township) and Sen. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) also testified, recounting the April 30, 2020, protest that inspired the bills and the Capitol Commission’s ban on firearms at the seat of Michigan government.
Anthony made mention of having guns pointed at her while taking votes that day in 2020, when gun advocates and members of various militias entered the Capitol building and stood armed in the galleries of the two chambers. Some of those individuals were later charged – though some were acquitted – in the plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
Sen. Jim Runestad (R-White Lake) accused Anthony of smudging the truth about what happened that day and asked her if she made a report to sergeants-at-arms for the supposed failure to protect her and other colleagues. The exchange was heated and raised the temperature in the committee room, as Runestad raised his voice multiple times at Anthony, cutting her off, which led the senator from Lansing to say the senator from White Lake was having a temper tantrum.
Anthony said the complaints were addressed, not only by the Capitol sergeants on the floor but by the Department of State Police.
Runestad dropped the debate over whether the militia members who stood armed in the galleries pointed guns at lawmakers, instead moving on to echo Lambert.
“The idea that a CPL holder being permitted into this building is going to be a massive danger has never been shown,” Runestad said. “In fact, it’s a very low percentage of crimes committed by CPL holders. Many people feel safer with a CPL holder, that if there is somebody, it’s not always possible for law enforcement to be there at that second, and they feel safer. The idea that preventing CPLs is going to prevent somebody from causing harm with a gun in the entire circumference of this building, as people come and go, as we saw with the president almost shot with the security detail around him, does not even make sense to me. So no, I will not be supporting this bill.”
That’s when things took a disturbing turn.
Next up to testify was Avi Rachlin, who identified himself as representing “Groypers for America,” a reference to the white supremacist movement spearheaded by social media influencer Nick Fuentes. Rachlin has previously identified himself as the former southeast regional director of Michigan Open Carry, but his name appears nowhere on the group’s website nor on its list of regional directors.
Rachlin delivered a loud, winding tirade at the committee over the legislation and eventually called it “racist” because it was his belief that it would affect mostly white citizens expressing their Second Amendment rights at the Capitol. He claimed the only reason why the legislation was before the committee was because Chang and her colleagues “don’t like us,” referring to white people and supporters of President-elect Donald Trump.
He then told Chang that if she wanted to fight gun violence, she should address crime in Detroit and proceeded to use a reviled racial slur to describe her Black constituents.
Chang immediately gaveled Rachlin down, and he was led away by the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms – but not before his comments were condemned by Runestad and fellow Republican Sen. Ruth Johnson of Groveland Township.
“The idea that this is aimed at white people … I know so many different groups from minority communities that are armed, that carry concealed,” Runestad said. “It’s just a ridiculous argument.”
Johnson sternly added: “The term you used is inappropriate, and it will not get you anywhere in this Legislature.”
Lambert later told Gongwer News Service that Rachlin was associated with Michigan Open Carry for a short time and then removed when it became apparent that “he did not share MOC’s belief that the Second Amendment is for everyone.”
“MOC has long advocated for the rights of everyone, and I, on behalf of MOC, have personally criticized the disproportionate negative effect of gun control on inner-city minorities in Lansing for years,” Lambert said.
Polehanki later addressed his comments in a social media post.
“What he did was so offensive that two of our Republican colleagues chastised him for saying what he did, which was truly disgusting,” Polehanki said. “I never thought I’d see the day.”
– By Ben Solis
