Michigan poised to restrict guns at election sites under Democratic bills

• House Democrats send Gov. Gretchen Whitmer bills to ban openly carried guns at polling places in future elections
• Courts struck down previous attempt to ban guns in elections by Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson
• House also approves plans to expand hate crime laws, access to birth control

LANSING, MI — Gun owners would be banned from openly carrying their firearms to Michigan election locations under bills headed to the desk of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for likely signature. 

House Democrats gave final passage to the legislation Wednesday in a series of 56-53 party-line votes, approving changes made by the state Senate in February.

The bills were among the first significant votes House Democrats took since last week’s election, in which they lost majority control to Republicans, who will take over the chamber next year. 

With the lame-duck session officially underway, the House on Wednesday also approved data center tax breaks and bills aiming to expand hate crime laws and access to birth control, sending those measures to the Senate for consideration. 

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Democrats have attempted to ban guns at polling locations since at least 2020, when Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson tried to do so on her own. She was quickly sued by gun rights groups who argued she was violating their Second Amendment rights.

Courts eventually struck down Benson’s ban, ruling she had exceeded her authority as secretary of state, not that the policy itself was inherently unconstitutional.

Under the legislation approved Wednesday, a person could not bring a firearm in or within 100 feet of a voting location while polls are open on Election Day, unless they carried their weapon concealed and had a permit to do so. 

The same rules would apply to early voting locations, as well as absentee ballot drop boxes, for the 40 days prior to an election.

During that 40-day window, a person could not bring their gun into, or within 100 feet of, a city or township clerk’s office or their satellite locations. Violations could result in a $100 fine, up to 90 days in jail, or both.

House lawmakers on Wednesday signed off on several provisions the state Senate had added to the bills in February, including allowing gun owners to keep their weapons in their cars or have their weapons on hand if visiting someone living within 100 feet of a drop box or polling location. 

Off-duty police officers would also be included in the list of individuals allowed to carry a firearm in the vicinity of election activity. 

Supporters in the Democratic-majority Legislature have argued a gun ban at the polls would protect the democratic process and prevent voters from being intimidated by bad actors looking to disrupt the election process. 

Republicans have opposed the bills on grounds that they would restrict gun owners’ rights and potentially result in law-abiding citizens getting charged with a crime if they inadvertently walked past a drop box. 

Hate crime laws

House Democrats are also making another attempt in lame-duck to write stricter hate crime prohibitions into Michigan law. They approved revised legislation Wednesday in a 57-52 vote, with support from one Republican.

Sponsoring Rep. Noah Arbit, D-West Bloomfield, has long pushed to update a 1988 law banning “ethnic intimidation” of race, religion, gender or national origin to include hate crimes based on sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability or age. 

He said Wednesday that the plan would help protect “every community across Michigan that faces rising hate crimes,” adding that most states already have hate crime laws comparable to what’s being proposed in Michigan. 

Democratic lawmakers had previously passed a different version of hate crime legislation, though the bills approved Wednesday were new. 

Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, was critical of the initial plan, telling Bridge in April that the legislation didn’t go far enough and pushed for stricter penalties. A House Democratic spokesperson said Wednesday that Nessel is supporting the new bills. 

Most Republicans opposed the legislation. Rep. Josh Schriver, R-Oxford, argued in a floor speech that the proposal could result in non-threatening behavior getting interpreted as such and would amount to an infringement of free speech. 

“We cannot be a nanny state that is going to continually create situations where we’re monitoring each other,” he said.

The legislation now heads to the Senate for further review.

Expanded birth control access

The Democratic-majority chamber passed a trio of bills Wednesday aimed at expanding access to birth control.

The legislation would allow pharmacists to prescribe and dispense hormonal contraceptives and emergency contraception, as well as require insurers to cover 12 months of birth control at the time. Patients would still be responsible for copays, deductibles or coinsurance that apply under their plan. 

Sponsoring Reps. Julie Rogers, D-Kalamazoo, and Stephanie Young, D-Detroit, told reporters the bills would help ease access for birth control users who are prescribed contraceptives to regulate their hormones, menstrual cycles or other research-backed uses. 

During the legislative process, some Republicans had questioned the cost of a 12-month supply of birth control, including the ability of a person whose coverage is about to end to stock up for the year, and potential burdens on insurers.