Do You Hear What They’re Not Saying?
We are learning more today about the 43-year-old man, Anthony McRae, who shot and killed three Michigan State University students and wounded five last night.
Like you, I am thinking and praying for these victims, families and friends. And, possibly like you, I’m noticing what pols are and ARE NOT saying.
In 2019, he was arrested and charged for a concealed weapon without a permit and other felony and misdemeanor charges. Later that year, he pled guilty to the misdemeanor and the felony was dismissed. His total sentence was 18 months of probation, completed in the summer of 2021.
Neighbors heard him firing a gun inside his house and more than one said he was trouble. “A hellraiser”.
Michigan has a Democratic, pro-gun control governor and legislature and they are promising to “act”.
The MSU campus is a “gun free zone” which means it’s already under more legal restrictions than you could possibly put the entire state under.
We are hearing from the usual (political suspects) that it’s time for bans on “assault weapons” and “long guns”. Early reports say he had a handgun.
He’s been “on the radar” since 2019, which is an incredibly common thread that runs through so many mass-shooting stories, yet seems of no interest to policy-makers.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer spoke of “a uniquely American problem”. While you could easily dispel that, I’d like to suggest a different problem that bears examining.
Guns are neither new, nor under less legal restraint than they have been in the past. We had them, they were ubiquitous, and we didn’t have all this. You know it and I know it. They’re pretending not to know it.
The “problem” I see is: more and more soul-less, selfish, sick, isolated animals acting out, and drawing the kind of attention that you can call “red-flags”, “warning signs”, “dots to connect” or whatever damn else you want to call them. Depravity is a moral, not legal, issue.
I want to know what I’m supposed to think when every politician fails us, and even tries to defund public safety, then, when my child is dead, comes at me for my rights instead of having to answer for failures to act.
I’m listening to what they’re NOT saying. You can’t miss it.
It’s deafening.