‘The tragedy cannot be undone’
New Michigan gun laws on anniversary of campus shooting
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Professor Marco Díaz-muñoz spent the past year trying to suppress the images, seared into his memory, of the gunman who entered his classroom at Michigan State University, killed two of his students and left others with critical wounds.
He expects a flood of emotions this week on the anniversary of the Feb. 13, 2023 mass shooting, which also claimed the life of a third student at the university student union and terrorized the East Lansing campus for nearly four hours.
“It was the sixth week. It was February. The class was from 7 to 9 in the evening. It was cold. And I’m going to be teaching the exact same lecture and lesson,” Díaz-muñoz told The Associated Press. “So everything I do is going to remind me of what happened.”
Tuesday’s classes were canceled and a remembrance gathering was planned for the three students who lost their lives — Brian Fraser, Arielle Anderson and Alexandria Verner.
Tuesday also is when Michigan’s sweeping new gun regulations take effect, implementing background checks for all gun purchases, safe storage requirements and red flag laws, also known as extreme risk protection orders.
“The tragedy cannot be undone,” said Díaz-muñoz, who testified in favor of the new laws. “There’s nothing that can compensate for that. But there is hope in moving forward and pushing forward for change.”
Anyone who wants to buy a gun in Michigan must now pass a background check, and gun owners must safely store all firearms and ammunition in the presence of minors.
The red flag law enables family members, police, mental health professionals, roommates and former dating partners to petition a judge to remove firearms from people who they believe pose an imminent threat to themselves or others.
The three new laws were a part of a sweeping gun safety package that had been initially drafted after the 2021 Oxford High School shooting in which four students died and others, including a teacher, were wounded.
A Michigan jury convicted that shooter’s mother of involuntary manslaughter last week, making her the first parent in the United States to be held responsible for a child carrying out a mass school shooting. Gun accessibility was an issue in the trial and investigators say Jennifer and James Crumbley failed to properly secure the gun. James Crumbley faces trial on the same charge next month.
Initially stalled in 2021 with the Legislature under Republican control, the gun safety package gained momentum after Democrats secured the House and Senate in the 2022 midterm elections.