A new study shows the State of Michigan had 29 armed demonstrations in the last 18 months, ranking fifth in the nation. The report was released Tuesday by the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund and the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED). According to Roudabeh Kishi, ACLED’s director of research and innovation, over 3% of Michigan’s protests are armed, 1% above the national average, which is 2%.

Federal and state officials signed nearly 400 treaties with tribal nations in the 18th and 19th centuries. Threatened by genocidal violence, the tribes signed away much of their land. But they secured promises that they could continue to hunt, fish and gather wild food on the territory they were giving up. In 1836 a treaty was signed in which tribal nations ceded more than a third of the territory that would become Michigan in exchange for the right to hunt and fish on the land in perpetuity. An oil spill from the Line 5 pipeline would destroy the state’s ability to honor that right, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said.

St. Joseph County Sheriff Mark Lillywhite told Watershed Voice Wednesday that his department will not be able to enforce a directive issued last Friday prohibiting open carry of firearms within 100 feet of polling places around the state. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson issued the directive, which applies to the upcoming November 3 General Election day, and includes instructions for local clerks on how to carry it out.