LANSING (WWJ) – With gun reform legislation pending in Lansing in the wake of last month’s mass shooting at Michigan State University, lawmakers heard more testimony Thursday from victims and their families.
The Senate is considering a trio of bills that were introduced days after the MSU shooting, including mandatory universal background checks, safe storage laws and extreme risk protection, otherwise known as red flag laws.
A day after the House Judiciary Committee heard testimony on similar bills, MSU senior Ellie Bayden was among those to speak in front of the Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee on Thursday.
She said she "will never be able to understand how anyone with power” can look at the numbers of mass shootings across the country and “not do anything” to change it: 13 at Columbine back 1999; 32 at Virginia Tech less than a decade later; 26 at Sandy Hook; 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas; 21 at Robb Elementary, and growing number of other students across the country.
“I don’t understand how government officials in this state sat by and watched four students die and seven others be injured at Oxford High School and they did nothing,” Bayden said. “While it is too late for Alexandria Verner, Arielle Anderson and Brian Fraser, it’s not too late for others.”
Verner, Anderson and Fraser were killed when a 43-year-old man opened fire at buildings on campus on Feb. 13. Five other students were injured, one of whom has been released from the hospital.
Also testifying Thursday was Steve St. Juliana, the father of Oxford shooting victim Hana St. Juliana.
“Two months after my daughter was gunned down in school, I came to the Capitol,” he said. “I met with the then-Senate Majority Leader and begged him to support. He refused. But he promised after the primaries we’d have the hearing. It never happened. Weeks later they voted against even having this hearing on the bills. So coming into this room I’m getting a little bit angry again. Don’t wait. Take action now.”
The proposed criminal background check legislation would close the so-called “gun show loophole” and also expand the state’s existing requirement for handgun and long gun purchases from federally licensed dealers.
Under the proposed safe storage law, those who fail to store a gun properly where it may be accessible to a minor could face punishment.
The so-called red flag law, or the extreme risk protection law, is perhaps the most contentious among the proposed bills, as it would allow family members, law enforcement or mental health professionals to ask the court to temporarily take away someone’s guns if they are exhibiting dangerous risk factors.
They would be required to prove in court the person poses a risk to themself or others.
Rick Ector has been a gun rights advocate and CPL instructor for 17 years. He tells WWJ Legal Analyst Charlie Langton he’s not happy with the proposed legislation – especially the red flag laws.
“If someone was to implement a red flag against someone, they would have law enforcement conduct a hearing, potentially in private, decide the fate of this person, execute a pre-dawn raid on his house,” Ector said. “And if they don’t kill him, they will then take his property, which is theft, and then dare him to have the money and resources to defend himself after the fact. It’s the death of due process.”
Others, however, believe there is due process built into the law, according to Langton.
Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks told WWJ this week’s hearings were “expedited” because of the MSU shooting.
“That incident at MSU certainly made this a lot more personal,” Brinks said before Thursday’s hearing. “The students just a couple miles away from here are watching. They will be here, they will be testifying today. It’s important to us to be able to answer their concerns with actions.”
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