Every once in a while a decision comes down from a court that shows incredibly poor judgment.
Judge Murray has decided that the Michigan Secretary of State cannot ban guns at polling places.
Our firm has brought a case defending gun owners from facing discrimination by their employer — when the guns were kept at home. We think the right to bear arms is not absolute but must be weighed with other rights.
The right to vote without intimidation is as important a right as any in a democracy.
The notion that in the 2020 election, with armed militias marching in protests, and even having temporarily occupied the State House, that the State Government lacks the authority to protect voters from intimidation by gun-toting thugs strikes me as the worst decision by a judge I can remember.
There is no legitimate reason to bring a weapon near a polling place. We want citizens to vote without intimidation or harassment.
Judge Murray’s decision is based on a stretched reading of state administrative law. Secretary of State Benson is one of the nation’s leading scholars on the legal authority of secretaries of state. She was also dean of Wayne State Law School. Her action was lawful and reasonable and necessary. Judge Murray’s act of judicial activism to bend over backwards to hamstring a state elected official from protecting the safety of elections is simply astonishing.
Here is the Detroit Free Press article by Paul Egan on October 27, 2020, “Judge strikes down Benson order banning open carry of guns at Michigan polling places“.