Looks like push is coming to shove as an unelected state commission wants to ban all weapons in the state Capitol but a whole host of GOP lawmakers want to ban the commission from doing so.

The Republicans claim the body does not have the power to ban weapons, thus raising the distinct possibility that the courts may eventually be asked to declare which side is correct.

Also as part of its draft proposal that gets an up or down vote later this month, the commission suggested that state lawmakers who have a legal concealed weapons permit must leave their guns someplace else and not bring them to the state House or state Senate floors.

It didn’t take long for those concealed-carry lawmakers to howl in protest, and word came from the commission chair suggesting there would be a move to rescind the original proposal when the vote is taken.

Even so, the chair of the 50-plus-member Second Amendment pro-gun caucus called a Zoom meeting last week and it was pretty clear that everyone zooming felt “we don’t think it is the right of the state or the Capitol Commission to do that.”

Furthermore, state Rep. Phil Green, R-Millington, vigorously argues that, when the Legislature created the commission, the mission was crystal clear: maintain the state Capitol building inside and out, but “don’t vote on political issues,” as he puts it. He does not rule out a legal suit to prove that point.

Problem is, sometime ago, the Democratic state attorney general told the commission it did have the power to do that, and, in an interesting twist to the story, when the commission several years ago voted to ban the open carry of weapons into the building, none of the Republican leaders who were in control at the time made a peep.

Nobody will confirm this, but the speculation is those Republicans favored keeping weapons out of the gallery, where protesters could look down from the other end of the gun barrel at the sitting ducks — er, state lawmakers — on the floor below.

Rather than vote on the controversial ban, since many of their constituents back home wanted to bring guns to the Capitol, they passed the buck to the commission to do the work and lawmakers avoided any public criticism for doing it themselves.

Fast-forward to the current debate over banning weapons, concealed and otherwise.

Green and friends now argue the commission is muting the voice of voters. He blames the Democratic governor and her legislative leaders with playing “legislature” with the commission.

“Doing stuff through an unelected commission stifles debate and takes the voice of the people right out of the discussion, and, now, because somebody (the Democrats) have won an election, they get to jam through whatever they want,” he said.

Adding her Up North voice to the gun fight is state Rep. Michelle Hoitenga, R-Manton, who carries a concealed weapon and feels safer packing.

And, if the commission does not back off on stopping her and about 20 or so other gun-toting lawmakers from having a weapon while they vote, she has hired an attorney to do something about that.

Namely, she is ready to haul the commission before some judge, hoping he or she will declare the commission is trespassing on sacred legislative grounds.

Would she be a plaintiff?

“I would absolutely if it comes down to that. I don’t want to go that route, but I’m going to fight for my rights,” she warns the commission. “We’re in a time when things are very scary, especially for lawmakers.”

And on that point both sides can probably agree.

They just can’t agree on the best way to address it.