Attempts to Exploit MSU Shootings Run into Inconvenient Truths

“A gunman who opened fire at Michigan State University killed three students and wounded five, setting off an hours-long manhunt as frightened students hid in classrooms and cars. The shooter eventually killed himself, police announced early Tuesday,” the Associated Press reports. “Officials do not know why 43-year-old Anthony McRae targeted the campus. He was not a student or employee and had no affiliation with the university, according to campus police.”

“Why” is not important to those intent on making political hay from yet another opportunity to advance citizen disarmament.

“Rep. Slotkin says she is ‘filled with rage’ about another school shooting happening in Michigan,” Fox News reports on an aggregator update page. “Michigan Gov. Whitmer claims mass shooting is ‘uniquely American problem’.”

“My heart breaks for Michigan State University tonight,” Newtown Action Alliance’s Po Murray tweeted. “What will it take for Congress to act boldly to protect out [sic] children?”

Gun owners have reason to feel rage, too, Rep. Slotkin, because once more, without consideration for facts, prohibitionist politicians like you are riling up the mob of useful idiot citizen disarmament fanatics, and setting them up to take the hit for atrocities abetted by your “progressive” policies and laws. As for being “uniquely American,” Whitmer is either negligently ignorant or deliberately lying by being oblivious to, or deliberately ignoring massacres in places already imposing impotent “commonsense gun safety laws”: the Beslan school in Russia,  Utoya Island in Norway, and a Catholic Church in Nigeria are just a few examples that immediately come to mind.

Economist John Lott, who has studied the subject in detail, concludes:

“The U.S. is well below the world average in terms of the number of mass public shootings, and the global increase over time has been much bigger than for the United States … Not only have these attacks been much more common outside the US, the US’s share of these attacks has declined over time. There has been a much bigger increase over time in the number of mass shootings in the rest of the world compared to the US.”

And notice Ms. Murray, leader of a self-admitted hate group, did not specify what law “Congress [should] act boldly on to protect out [sic] children” that would have prevented this. That’s because she knows no “gun control” edict would, but as we’ve seen before, that doesn’t matter: No law will ever be enough for her.

And a point of order here, the term “our children” is the collectivist way of staking a claim for more compulsory indoctrination and control. What sane individuals want these hive-minded frauds to have anything to do with “protecting” THEIR children by swindling them out of their birthright?

Besides, a “gunman” (note the implied pejorative – “Scumbag Murderer” is much more apt) intent on slaughtering human beings is not likely to be deterred by “gun laws,” and this one was no exception. Proof of that is spelled out by MSU’s Board of Trustees:

“Except as permitted by state law regulating firearms, no person shall possess any firearm or weapon anywhere upon property governed by the Board … The use of any firearm or weapon is prohibited upon property governed by the Board except those areas specifically set aside and supervised at range facilities, or as part of the regular education process, or as outlined in Ordinance 37.02 and its subsections.”

The murderer had no problem violating the spirit and intent of the “use” section of the ordinance. What about the “as permitted by state law” exception?

“According to online Michigan Dept. of Corrections records, McRae previously pleaded guilty to a firearms charge dating back to 2019 in Ingham County,” Grand Rapids’ 13 on Your Side News reports. As an aside, why the story appears under the “Sports” category seems a curious editorial decision, but it does bump the headline down the station’s home page to where, at this writing, you have to scroll almost to the bottom to find it.

With all the social divisiveness exploited by Democrats and their media cheerleaders, it hardly seems out of line to speculate that perhaps McRae did not fit a preconceived profile that would maximize such exploitation. Yet to be determined, and this will be interesting when it comes out, is what political affiliations and sympathies he shared. And that is the main reason to disagree with some “gun rights” advocates who say killers should not be named because that just gives them the publicity they crave.

Without knowing who he is, independent internet sleuths without big media resources would never be able to track down clues that the press, for reasons of its own, may see fit to bury under “sports” or not bring up at all via its all-too-familiar lies of omission tactic. Without that, we would need to rely only on what they’re being told by the “authorities” and would never be able to connect a news report photo with the same one on a purported Michigan Department of Corrections status sheet showing, among other things, McRea pled to a felony weapons charge with a maximum 1-year 6-month sentence, ostensibly making him a “prohibited person.” Now that this thread has been exposed, it can be pulled to see, first of all, if it’s real, and then to see where else it leads. And note the assertion that McRae’s Facebook page was “deactivated.”

If true, why?

Don’t look for Stefanik, Whitmer, or Murray to tell you any of this. They’re too busy spewing out their genuine hatred of you being armed, which in itself is curious when you consider that they are voices representing the political “left,” and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is the most egalitarian power-sharing arrangement ever devised.

Maybe they’re not really very “progressive” after all…?

About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.