Share
Commentary

Dems Exploit Mass Shooting to Push Gun Control, But Look at Arrest Record of Suspect

Share

In the wake of a horrific mass shooting at Michigan State University, the Democrats running the state immediately rushed to exploit the tragedy to push for more gun control.

However, one inconvenient fact stands in their way.

According to local outlet WJRT, following the tragedy, in which three students at MSU were killed, Michighan’s leftist Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the state’s Democrats called for more gun control laws.

In a statement, Democrat U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee of Flint said, “We are not helpless and must act to make it harder for bad people to get their hands on a deadly weapon. No one law will stop every bad person with a gun, but we must act to stop the madness.”

The idea behind this is clear: The left insists we need to have even more restrictions on our Second Amendment Rights in order to ensure that criminals and “bad people” do not get their hands on weapons.

Trending:
Election Coverage 2024

The theory is that we will be safer from mass shootings once we have laws in place that stop criminals from carrying guns.

Unfortunately for Whitmer and the Democrats, the facts of this case do not justify that. The man who committed this horrific shooting already had a criminal history. Some officials say he should not have had a gun in the first place.

According to the New York Post, the shooter, 43-year-old Anthony McRae, was arrested in 2019 after he was found to be in possession of a loaded firearm without a conceal-carry permit.

McRae pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge and was on probation for the next two years.

Should there be stricter gun control?

However, according to WWMT-TV, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said McRae should not have been able to own a gun, despite the fact that his probationary period expired.

“The charge under Michigan law is either a low-court felony or high-court misdemeanor; for the purposes of being able to legally possess a weapon, it’s considered a felony,” according to a statement from Nessel’s office. That would have prevented him from legally having a gun for up to five years, attorneys told WWMT.

Essentially, McRae may have already been breaking a gun-control law, but that did not prevent him from being able to obtain a firearm.

Once again, we are seeing the left call for more gun legislation, even though the restrictions that are already in place have done little to nothing to prevent criminals from obtaining guns.

We saw another example of this last month in California, when Gov. Gavin Newsom called for more anti-gun laws after a mass shooting in Monterey Park, despite the fact that the gun that the shooter used was already illegal under California state law.

Related:
Celebrity's Fast-Food Chain Suddenly Closes All Locations Following Minimum Wage Hike

We have seen time and time again the measures these leftist state governments are taking do absolutely nothing to curb gun violence.

New York has some of the strictest gun laws in the country, and those did not stop a murderer from slaughtering a group of people in Buffalo last summer.

Similarly, Illinois is another state that has strict restrictions on the Second Amendment, and that did not stop a criminal from committing a mass shooting at Highland Park outside of Chicago.

Also, it is interesting to note that these mass shootings usually seem to be occur in places that are run by Democrats. New York, Illinois, California and Michigan all have some of the most liberal state governments in the country.

It is almost as if it is not guns that are the problem, but rather liberal mismanagement of these states that are leading to violence.

But unfortunately, the left will not actually contend with these inconvenient facts. They would rather push ahead with their purely politically motivated agendas than face the facts of the case.

Truth and Accuracy

Submit a Correction →



We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Tags:
, , , , ,
Share
Peter Partoll is a commentary writer for the Western Journal and a Research Assistant for the Catholic Herald. He earned his bachelor's degree at Hillsdale College and recently finished up his masters degree at Royal Holloway University of London. You can follow him on Twitter at @p_partoll.




Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.

Conversation