Ryan Kelley was running for governor of Michigan in 2022 but all that went to shambles when he was recognized storming the country’s capitol on January 6th 2021. I was very interested in the legal issues regarding this case considering the way he went about the situation. He has made crude, inappropriate comments about the election and has since then lost his privilege to be able to run for governor in the future.
January 6th, 2021 was the day over 11,000 people of our nation thought it was a great idea to storm the capitol while there was a “session in progress in congress regarding the outcome of the presidential election“ in which they were confirming the Electoral votes. At the time, this was only a couple months after the election and days before the inauguration. This riot lasted from 9:00am to 2:00pm. There were over 200 officers called to the attack and 174 of them were injured. 10 people died either that day or days later, from causes regarding the injuries they sustained from the riot. A large quantity of the rioters were injured, sustaining minor to drastic injuries. The senators who were in the capitol at the time made it out safely, but the damage to the capitol was roughly worth about 2.7 million dollars.
Kelley also has been known for spreading lies and rumors about the 2020 election, which was also a major issue considering he is still running for governor. Yes, it is known that Kelley is a political activist, but there are certain guidelines one needs to follow when running for governor.
According to CNN, he “climbed up through the scaffolding that was for president – elect Joe Biden’s inauguration stage and during the attack motioned for rioters to continue on.“ He said that he had no regrets about joining the riot in Washington that morning. “January 6th, 2021, back when the gas was under $2 a gallon – those were good times“ said Kelley during an interview. It’s his lack of maturity that irks me. There are so many worse things happening under Trump’s presidency and it seems all that republicans care about are how much money they are spending on gas money when 93% of Trump’s supporters make over 100,000 a year.
Ryan Kelley claimed that on that day he “only engaged in ‘first amendment activity’.” That was a first amendment activity by a majority of those people – myself included – we were there protesting the government because we don’t like the results of the 2020 election… and we have that first amendment right.” First of all, the first amendment clearly states that ‘ congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof: or abridging the freedom of speech… or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” The right of the people to PEACEABLY assemble, PEACEFULLY. In what way was the January 6th attack peaceful? 10 were dead and 140 officers were injured. In a peaceful protest, there is not one person injured and not one person dead. This was an outrageous way to voice your opinion and it was blown completely out of proportion and should have never happened. Don’t plea to the first amendment when you clearly don’t know what it stands for.
That being said, there were some repercussions to Kelley’s actions. He was arrested June, 2022 for apparent misdemeanor regarding participating in the infamous January 6th attack. He had to pay a 1,000 dollar fine as well as serve 2 months probation. In my opinion, there should have been a bigger punishment, something more then just 2 months probation. You can peacefully participate in a protest to voice your opinion, but the measures that he took to make his opinion known were extreme.
