Michigan's face mask mandate has triggered a tsunami of rage in recent months, with people on both sides of the issue growing further and further apart over whether the face coverings can and should be mandated as a way to stop the spread of COVID-19.

One side argues the masks will help stop the spread of coronavirus and save lives, while the other says it infringes on their freedom, and that the government is exaggerating the seriousness of the virus.

Adding to the tension are the numerous police agencies, including sheriff's departments in Macomb and Van Buren counties, who have said they won't enforce the mask rule.

Caught in the middle are businesses, who have landed in the precarious position of playing cop as they are now required to enforce a new, tougher mask rule that went into effect a week ago: They have to turn the maskless away, or risk a $500 fine or losing their license.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer issued the tougher mask order following the state's spike in COVID-19 cases, and this week urged President Donald Trump to issue a federal mandate that requires masks in businesses across the country.

 This has many businesses nervous and scared given the hostile and violent behavior witnessed across the country over mask mandates.

On July 14, a 77-year-old Lansing man was stabbed at a Quality Dairy market after a store clerk asked a 43-year-old Grand Ledge man to wear a mask.  The man refused and attacked the older man, who was an innocent bystander,  according to Quality Dairy. The maskless man was shot and killed shortly after by a sheriff's deputy. The stabbing victim survived.

Two days earlier in northern Michigan, a 39-year-old Kalkaska County man allegedly pulled a knife on a Meijer employee who asked him to wear a mask, triggering his arrest and charges. 

In May, a security guard at a Flint dollar store was shot and killed after asking a woman to leave the store because her child was not wearing a mask.

 © Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press Bennie Hicks of Flint takes a photo in front of the Family Dollar in Flint on Monday May 4, 2020, where his cousin, Calvin James Munerlyn, worked as a security guard. Munerlyn was shot and killed after an argument over a customer needing to wear a face mask while shopping in the store on Friday, May 1, 2020.

That same month in Colorado, a man allegedly shot a cook at a waffle restaurant after being told he wouldn't be served unless he wore a mask. And a week earlier In Oklahoma City, a customer allegedly opened fire in a McDonald's after being informed she couldn't eat in the dining area, striking an employee in the arm.