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Court Rejects Appeal Seeking Gun Ban Outside Michigan Polling Places

Associated Press

   DETROIT - The Michigan appeals court on Thursday rejected an appeal
   from a Democratic state official who wants to ban the open carrying of
   guns outside polling places.

   The court, in a 3-0 order, declined to hear the case but noted that
   it's already illegal to intimidate voters or aggressively wave a gun in
   public.

   "Anyone who intimidates a voter in Michigan by brandishing a firearm
   or, for that matter, by threatening with a knife, baseball bat, fist,
   or otherwise menacing behavior, is committing a felony under existing
   law," the court said.

   The three-judge panel included Brock Swartzle, who is a candidate for
   the state Supreme Court.

   The order came two days after a judge said Secretary of State Jocelyn
   Benson had exceeded her authority in prohibiting the open carrying of
   guns within 100 feet of a polling place.

   Formal process

   Court of Claims Judge Christopher Murray said the policy didn't go
   through a formal rule-making process required under Michigan law.

   Benson, the state's chief election officer, acted after federal
   authorities on October 8 said they broke up a scheme by anti-government
   paramilitary groups to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer. But some
   county sheriffs said they wouldn't enforce the order, and the Michigan
   Association of Chiefs of Police also had panned it.

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