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DETROIT – More than a week has passed since the shooting at Michigan State University – long enough, I gather, that most of the country has moved on.
Three deaths is not a lot by today’s standards of mass murder. And that’s to say nothing of the more than 100 Americans who die every day from guns in murders, deaths and accidents. Most of the people who died did not even make the news.
Yet, in Michigan, we are still dealing with the aftermath of the shooting — and mourning the victims.
Tuesday was the funeral for Arielle Anderson, a 19-year-old sophomore from Detroit. Among the dignitaries who attended was Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who spoke about Anderson’s “quiet confidence” and “loud passion” and Anderson’s “special bond” with her aunt who helped care for her.
MSU Board of Trustees Chair Rema Vassar was also there. He announced that the university awarded degrees to Anderson as well as to Brian Fraser, 20, and Alexandria Verner, 20, two other students who died last week.
At Fraser’s funeral last Saturday, a pastor recalled his charisma and humor — how he wasn’t the most talented athlete but loved being “part of the team.”
A speaker at Verner’s service remembered him as an idealist, someone who “saw something greater in humanity.”
Some of the survivors of the shooting have also been in the news – among them, John Hao, 20, a student from China who was shot in the back and is now paralyzed. His parents, who do not speak English, have flown to the US to join him. Friends set up a GoFundMe to cover the costs and donations continue, including from NBA star James Harden, who heard that Hao was a big fan.
Harden threw on a pair of sneakers and talked to Hao on FaceTime, telling him to stay strong. He also gave me his personal phone number so they could talk again in the future – maybe in person, when Hao was well enough to attend a game as a special guest. Harden later told an ESPN interviewer he hopes “to brighten John’s day, even if it’s just for a minute.”
Dieu-Nalio Chery for The Washington Post via Getty Images
The same impulse, to give emotional support, so there are thousands of people watching across the country. And that’s why, when the MSU basketball team played the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor over the weekend, the Michigan athletic department showered the arena. green light – the official colors of the MSU Spartans – for a moment of silence and then a rendition of MSU’s alma mater by the Michigan band.
This competitive game in the country is famous for rough play on the hardcourt and not-so-friendly taunts from the stands. On this night, Michigan students held up banners that said “Spartan Strong,” a slogan used here to show solidarity.
It’s probably understandable since it’s become a catchphrase for mass shootings — as in “Uvalde Strong” or “Parkland Strong.” The phrase has a history that actually predates mass shootings; I first remember hearing it after the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, when the city adopted the motto “Boston Strong.”
Whatever the origin, the appropriation as a response to the gun massacre has a certain logic – despite the fact that the shooting now has its own, established slogan is not a cause for celebration.
“We’re getting very good at this,” local sports blogger and podcaster Seth Fisher said Thursday.
The question now is whether the expression of sympathy is just the highest version of “thoughts and prayers” – or whether, for once, it will provoke some kind of response.
Steven King/Sportswire Icon via Getty Images
In Michigan, there is at least some reason to think that action is possible. This past week, Democrats in the legislature presented a series of bills to regulate gun access and storage, with plans to move quickly together on three fronts: expand the current background check system to cover all gun sales, establish new rules for gun storage and put it on. put in place a mechanism to obtain an “emergency risk protection order.”
The final provision would create a so-called “red flag law,” where judges can authorize police to temporarily seize firearms after evidence that a person poses a danger to others or himself.
This proposal is not new. The Michigan Democrat introduced them all a year ago after the shooting at Oxford High School, north of Detroit, which left four dead and seven wounded. The proposals failed to get a committee hearing because the Republicans in charge would not allow them.
Now, thanks to the 2022 election, Democrats control the legislature and are moving forward — with Whitmer, the second Democrat to call for the legislation, poised to sign it.
This does not mean that the enactment is a foregone conclusion. The Democratic margin was slim, with just two seats each in the 38-member Senate and 110-member House. Some represent more rural and conservative areas, where there are more gun owners and more suspicious of gun restrictions.
One organization, Great Lakes Gun Rightscalled the Democratic push a “power grab” and an attempt to exploit the tragedy for political gain, and promised to punish legislators who voted yes with recall efforts.
“If they think they will be able to quietly pass this bill, without repercussions, I think they are fooling themselves,” Brenden Boudreau, executive director of the organization, told Michigan Radio.
But Great Lakes Gun Rights has been under attack since even before the election when he tweeted out a ghoulish, green caricature from Whitmer with the phrase “Gun-Grabbing Gretchen.”
And while accusations of exploiting genocide for political gain have dogged many lawmakers in the past, it has done little to deter this generation of Democratic leaders, who are clueless about their intentions.
Some Democrats tweeted right back in the gun group, reaffirming support for the proposals and effectively daring the enemy to try a recall. Winnie Brinks, Michigan’s new Senate majority leader, has appeared on several local and national television shows promising to bring new proposals to a vote and bring them to Whitmer’s desk.
“We’re going to get through this,” Brinks said MSNBC last week.
His confidence points to polling numbers that show his proposals are overwhelmingly popular, even among Republican voters and gun owners. In fact, supporters of these measures like Democratic Sens. Rosemary Bayer and Mallory McMorrow said they believe some of the measures could win Republican support now that GOP leaders don’t block votes altogether.
Al Goldis/Associated Press
Bayer said Friday that passing new gun laws is one of the two issues he’ll hear about most when he’s knocking on the door during the 2022 campaign. (The other is abortion.) He said Democratic leaders have heard from Republicans interested in the bill, and may be interested in voting, although no one wants to be the decisive and destructive voice.
But the legislature has not spent that much time in Lansing years – and they need to update the old rules to ensure they are taking advantage of the latest advice from the state that has introduced the same law.
“We want to make sure we get all the voices, we want to make sure we’re as comprehensive as we can be — and we really have the best legislation,” Bayer said.
Another high-profile Michigan Democrat with hopes of bipartisanship on gun laws is US Rep. Elissa Slotkin. Slotkin is a former CIA officer who has won three elections in two partly rural, conservative-leaning districts – the first includes Oxford High, when taking there took place; which now includes MSU.
“I have heard from countless hunters, sportsmen, local Republican leaders, business owners, big game enthusiasts and parents who carry concealed weapons,” said Slotkin in an editorial he wrote for the Detroit Free Press this week. “They’ve all been very clear that they want to do whatever it takes to protect our children from gun violence.”
Of course, the reason these proposals have broad support is because they are relatively modest, the kind only the most diehard gun rights advocates would see as a threat to liberty. And with gun laws, as with many other types of legislation, simple measures tend to have only modest effects.
But at this time, creating new rules and even increasing them for guns would represent a break with the politics of the past. And sometimes, that’s what it takes to create a different future.