As another protest at the State Capitol approaches Thursday, two local state representatives appear to be making statements about protests of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s the stay at home orders.

State Rep. Mary Whiteford of Casco Township this week was a guest on WHTC-radio and said she supports a ban on open carry of guns inside the Capitol building. This is of particular interest because she was one of the protesters in mid-April, calling for opening Michigan businesses back up in the wake of the Coronavirus crisis.

State Attorney General Dana Nessel Monday issued a ruling in support of banning weapons inside the Capital after a group of citizens showed up April 30 in legislative chambers sporting

AR-15s and other weapons. However, a special panel dealing with the issue has tabled it.

She said, “I don’t think it’s right to allow anybody up on the gallery or up close with those guns.”

Whiteford, a Republican who represents all of Allegan County except Wayland City and Wayland, Dorr and Leighton Townships, said she wasn’t aware at the time of the April 30 about how armed the protesters were.

Meanwhile, State Rep. Steven Johnson, who lives in Wayland and represents the remaining parts of Allegan County, appeared on WXMI Fox-17 this week to talk about reopening businesses.

Interestingly, Johnson, like President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, refused to wear a mask in public enclosed spaces. He was shown on Fox in a fitness gym with three others who wore masks and in line at Harding’s Market without a mask.

Johnson, also a Republican, has been critical of Whitmer as well, and has suggested she is more interested in auditioning for the vice presidential candidacy.

Neither Whiteford, a nurse, nor Johnson, have discussed at length the virus health issue as opposed to the political issue. The spread of COVID-19 has been blamed for more than 80,000 deaths in the United States in the last two and a half months.

COVER PHOTO: State Rep. Steve Johnson is maskless (at right) while being filmed for a story that appeared on Fox-17.