Bookworms in Lansing, Mich., will be able to take their guns to the library after the state supreme court declined to hear an appeal of a lower-court ruling that overturned restrictions on carrying firearms in Capital Area District Library facilities, reports Michigan Live. The high court said Thursday it was declining to hear the appeal “because we are not persuaded that the questions presented should be reviewed by this court.”
The library system, which operates 13 branches and a bookmobile, had instituted a policy banning the open carrying of firearms on library property. The ban was challenged in February 2011 by Michigan Open Carry, a firearms rights group alleging the prohibition violated state law and both the Michigan and U.S. constitutions. A trial court judge upheld the ban as within the library’s authority, but a Michigan Court of Appeals panel ruled in October 2012 that the library system lacked the ability to regulate firearms on its property.