Michigan State University is nearly 170 years old and has made history on campus, including a massive protest march at the State Capitol by more than 10,000 students demanding an end to the Vietnam War.
Presidents and other national officials speak, and in the sports arena, history is notable, including the infamous 10-10 draw between Notre Dame and Sparta. Coach Daffy Dougherty said it’s like kissing your sister.
And history was made on February 13th. Three students died. Five students were seriously injured and one shooter died.
It’s not been the week Governor Gretchen Whitmer expected. In fact, her Monday began on a welcome note for the administration when she stood alongside Ford leaders and other local officials to announce that a $3.5 billion EV battery plant would land in Marshall.
That’s a pretty good deal for a governor who was caught off guard last year by the same automaker who didn’t even bother to consider Michigan for two other battery plants that went to Kentucky and Tennessee. bottom.
If there was any bitterness from that, they were long forgotten by the company’s decision to create 2,500 jobs in the state.
But the euphoria of that moment was swept away in an instant, about five hours later, when the governor heard “active shooters on campus” along with the entire Spartan nation.
A single shooter stalked the MSU campus from one auditorium to a union, leaving a trail of casualties. He then sets off into a dark winter night, at which point a large man-hunt was planned.
As law enforcement pondered its move and didn’t know where to start, technology came to the rescue. A photo of the masked suspect was captured by a newly installed campus video camera system.
Posted with fingers crossed that this was a hint.
And surprisingly, after 17 minutes, that’s exactly what happened. When the Lansing woman sees a picture of her on her PC and turns around, looking out the window in her front room, who do you think she was walking by?
“That’s him!” she shouted to her husband, and later when she was thinking that she was in danger with a shooter in her front yard, she called the cops and within minutes they confronted him and He ended the exchange with his own deadly bullet.
“We can’t live like this. Our children are afraid to go to school,” the mother of two college-aged daughters turned governor said the morning after the tragic eve. told the media.
“We must act,” she promised, just as she did in her 19-day state message that included the line, “The time for thoughts and prayers alone is over.”
This brings us to the Michigan Legislature. The Michigan Legislature, under former Republican control, has refused to allow the House and Senate to hold public hearings on gun safety measures. They were content to call for more mental health services and school safety committees, but they weren’t sure about safe gun storage, stronger background checks, or even ways to keep guns out of their hands. I didn’t whisper. who could abuse them. Most of you want it.
A slew of gun control measures were thrown into Hopper last week as Democrats now call for gunfire. There is no doubt that public hearings will be held and votes will be taken, but the outcome remains unknown.
Some Republicans seem ready to oppose the NRA against what even smells like a plan to take guns away from those who own them. They counter that they are not interested in it. period.
It has nothing to do with the NRA.
Campus history was made last week that everyone would rather forget, but perhaps gun safety advocates would like it. 8 Mile) red cedar banks, and hope Congress will vote to reduce gun violence statewide.
Tim Skvik is a columnist for political newspapers, as well as an anchor and producer for the weekly PBS show Off the Record.
