Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel raised eyebrows earlier this week when she emphatically warned the public that the state Capitol was "not safe" despite a recent ban on openly carrying firearms in the building. Anyone, she said, regardless of criminal history or membership in anti-government groups, could still enter the Capitol "fully locked and loaded" with concealed firearms and/or explosives.
"My job is not to provide state employees & residents or other visitors to our Capitol with a false sense of security, especially given the current state of affairs in Michigan and around the nation," Nessel wrote in a prescient Twitter thread. "I repeat-the Michigan Capitol is not safe."
Now a 6-foot security fence has been erected around that Capitol building, and it will be locked in the coming days in anticipation of armed protests surrounding the Inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden next week.
But Michigan’s is just one of many state capitols that is now closing down over security concerns as the nation embarks on a once-hallowed hallmark of American democracy: the peaceful transition of power from one president to a successor. While National Guard troop levels in Washington, D.C. have just been increased to 25,000 service members, state officials across the country are bracing for violence closer to home.
"Wisconsin Capitol Police tell lawmakers to stay away from Capitol this weekend, consider removing personal information from social media accounts, lock doors and be on high alert at home," tweeted Scott Bauer, a political reporter for the Associated Press.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy on Friday ordered state employees to work from home on Inauguration Day. Though the state police said there was no specific threat, Murphy cited a "level of tension in the country."
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has also ordered the state Capitol closed next week.
In addition to the shutdowns, many states and cities have increased security in response to FBI warnings of potential violence surrounding the Inauguration, including Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey. In Pennsylvania's state capital of Harrisburg, for instance, police are shutting down streets in order to keep any protests from spilling into the surrounding neighborhoods. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee has activated hundreds of National Guard troops to help protect the Capitol in Olympia.
Minnesota is shutting down federal courthouses in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Duluth for the early part of next week.
On top of the closures and increased security measures, some entities are warning employees and people in certain professions to take steps personally to protect themselves. The Committee to Protect Journalists, for instance, is warning against donning lanyards that might identify them as members of the media.