The Michigan Capitol Commission on Monday unanimously voted to create a special panel to study whether it has the power to prohibit firearms inside the state Capitol.

The commission tasked a group, made up of some of the commission’s six members, with obtaining independent legal analysis and getting input from both legislators and the governor. Gary Randall, the commission’s chairman and clerk of the Michigan House, pledged that the committee would move expeditiously.

Last month, gun-toting militia protesters spilled inside the Capitol, where armed anti-lockdown demonstrators confronted police officers and insisted on being allowed onto the House floor as lawmakers debated an extension of Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s emergency powers.

Under current state law, people are allowed to take firearms inside the Capitol building.

Randall said at the onset he never expected the commission to be in a situation “where we’re being asked to interpret law to try and take some responsibility that has historically been the responsibility of the legislature and develop a plan to control firearms.”

John Truscott, vice-chairman of the commission, said he doesn’t like seeing weapons in the Capitol but the commission has to be very careful to ensure “we’re not overstepping our bounds.”

“As unelectable, unaccountable individuals,” Truscott said, the six members are “here basically as museum caretakers and gardeners.” Should they bar guns from the premises, “we would have an injunction filed almost immediately.”

But Kerry Chartkoff, a member of the commission who also serves at the Capitol’s historian emeritus, said the group has previously passed rules involving what can and cannot be brought inside the Capitol.

“We’re not just gardeners, we’re not just antique curators,” she said, adding that they are responsible for the well-being of those who come to the state Capitol. However, she said the commission should not move in haste with a decision.

The commission oversees the care-taking of the building, its artifacts and its grounds. Its six members include the secretary of the Senate, the clerk of the House, two people appointed by the governor, and two people jointly appointed by the clerk and secretary. Both chambers of the Michigan legislature are under Republican control.

Ahead of the hearing, state Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey, a Republican, asked the commission to wait on making a formal decision until members could first meet with legislators and the state police while state Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, issued a formal opinion stating the commission has the legal authority to regulate whether firearms can be brought inside the building.

However, some on the commission did not seem moved by her ruling. Truscott said the commission needs to have an independent legal analysis “rather than relying on people with political motivations.”

Nessel had pushed back earlier and was critical of how the process has been handled.

“I hope the Michigan State Capitol Commission chooses to act with the public’s safety in mind and recognizes the grave consequences that could weigh on their consciences if they choose instead to do nothing,” Nessel said in a statement to NBC News Monday afternoon. “The time for action is now and commissioners must take the steps necessary to safeguard our Capitol from violence and preventable loss of life.”

In an interview with NBC News last week, Whitmer said she wants to see weapons barred from the state Capitol after the anti-lockdown protesters took them inside the building.

“There are legislators who are wearing bulletproof vests to go to work,” Whitmer said. “No one should be intimidated by someone who’s bringing in an assault rifle into their workplace. And so there is conversation about changing that law. I think it’s long overdue, and I absolutely support that change. You shouldn’t be intimidated going to be the voice of the people who elected you.”