Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin joined hundreds of Michigan State University students at the State Capitol on Wednesday for a protest rally in the aftermath of the mass shooting on MSU’s campus Monday night that left three students dead and critically injured five others.
“For everyone who wants to see changes in our gun safety laws, we need you to step up, enlist allies, and demand action from your elected leaders,” Slotkin said. “I reject the false choice between Second Amendment rights & common-sense gun safety laws. Gun violence is the leading cause of death for America’s children, and if elected officials in D.C. can’t keep our kids safe, nothing else matters.”
The day before, Slotkin said she was “filled with rage” that she was participating in another press conference about children being killed in their schools, just 15 months after the mass shooting at Oxford High School.
“And I would say that you either care about protecting kids or you don’t,” Slotkin told reporters. “You either care about having an open, honest conversation about what is going on in our society or you don’t. But please don’t tell me you care about the safety of children if you’re not willing to have a conversation about keeping them safe in a place that should be a sanctuary.”
The student-led protest also included state Sen. Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, (D-Grand Rapids) state House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel.
Democrats, who now control the legislature, say they plan to introduce a series of “common sense” gun measures in the coming days, including universal background checks, safe storage laws and extreme risk protection orders, sometimes known as “red flag” laws.
The suspect in the shootings, 43-year-old Anthony Dwayne McRae, previously pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of possession of a loaded firearm and spent a year and a half on probation. He had originally been charged with a felony count of carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.
Family members of McRae, who police say took his own life, have told reporters that he had been acting strangely since his mother’s death in 2020 and was described as “socially isolated.”
