The MSU shooter should have been in jail, but he got a plea deal for prior gun crimes
Zachary Faria
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A shooting at Michigan State University left three people dead and five others wounded.
Once again, it was a preventable shooting. No, it could not have been prevented by passing more gun control laws, but it could have been prevented if local prosecutors had only enforced existing gun laws.
The shooter, Anthony McRae, was arrested in 2019 and charged with “carrying a concealed pistol without a concealed carry permit.” This is a felony that carries a potential five-year prison sentence and would have prevented McRae from being permitted to own a firearm once his sentence was up. Instead, he pleaded down to possession of a loaded firearm in a vehicle, which is a misdemeanor. Prosecutors dismissed the felony charge, and he served just 18 months probation instead. Also, and most importantly, he remained eligible to purchase and own guns.
None of this matters to Michigan Democrats, though. They have already begun standing on the corpses of the people McRae killed in order to deliver speeches in favor of more gun control. State House Majority Whip Ranjeev Puri began his official statement with “f*** your thoughts and prayers” while ludicrously claiming there had been 67 mass shootings in 2023 already. He wants “common sense gun reform,” which is never defined and, of course, never addresses the shootings that its advocates shamelessly exploit to promote it.
Had McRae simply been convicted of the felony he was charged with, this would never have happened. A five-year sentence would see him behind bars until 2024, meaning he wouldn’t even be able to commit this shooting. If he were a convicted felon, he also wouldn’t be able to legally own a firearm, which he has been able to do since his probation ended. Illegal gun possession is a red flag when it comes to criminals who pose a threat to the community.
The real question is why aggressively prosecuting gun criminals is so shockingly low on the Democratic Party’s agenda. They almost seem to oppose it, even though it is the one thing that could prevent shootings and reduce crime.
Instead, Democrats like Puri will continue to shame and smear people who point out the obvious — that gun control would likely have done nothing to stop this shooting, just like the vast majority of high-profile shootings we have seen. The common thread in these incidents is that of men with (often violent) criminal histories and countless behavioral red flags. If Democrats wanted to stop these shootings, that is where we would begin.
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Instead, we will continue to get lectures about AR-15s and “expanding background checks.” We don’t even know at this point what kind of gun he used (authorities did not release this information), but apparently, psychic Democrats already know which gun to ban — the one they always want to ban. It is the AR-15, a rifle, even though all rifles combined (not just AR-15s) are used in only about 3% of all murders.
In most cases, the gun laws already on the books are more than sufficient to prevent shootings like the one that happened at MSU. In this case, it is undeniable, as the perp would have been behind bars as a convicted felon. You would think that “common sense gun reform” would mean doing something meaningful — that is, cracking down on gun crimes and ensuring that gun criminals are not able to be free and legally own a firearm. Democrats still don’t see it that way.