Biden Says There’s ‘No Rationale for Assault Weapons’ after Michigan State Shooting
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There is “no rationale for assault weapons,” President Joe Biden said on Tuesday, one day after a mass shooting at Michigan State University left three people dead and five others critically injured.
The university sent an alert to students at 8:31 p.m. on Monday urging them to “run, hide, fight” after reports that shots had been fired on campus. After an hours-long manhunt, the 43-year-old suspect was found off campus early Tuesday. The suspect, Anthony McRae, was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, police said.
Police have not said what kind of gun was used in the attack.
Biden spoke about the shooting during a keynote speech at the National Association of Counties. “Three lives have been lost and five seriously injured and it’s a family’s worst nightmare,” he said. “It’s happening far too often in this country.”
“There’s one thing we do know to be true: we have to do something to stop gun violence ripping apart our communities,” he said, noting that Tuesday marks five years since a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., left 14 students and three educators dead.
“We took a big step toward passing the most significant bipartisan gun legislation in thirty years — ghost guns and other things, background checks — but there’s a lot more work to do and I’m committed to getting it done with all of you,” he said.
“I’m going to say something that’s always controversial but there is no rationale for assault weapons and magazines that hold 50 to 70 bullets,” Biden added.
University interim Deputy Police Chief Chris Rozman told reporters on Tuesday that “at this point, we have no additional information on the actual weapon that was used in the incident.”
“Those are things that we will continue to process and look at today as part of our investigation,” he added. “We did recover a weapon.”
He said police “have absolutely no idea what the motive was,” as McRae was not affiliated with the university. Investigators have revealed that McRae has a history of mental illness. Officers were called for a welfare check on McRae last week, Fox News reported.
McRae was previously arrested on a gun-related charge in 2019 in Lansing, the Detroit Free Press reported. Chris Gautz, a spokesman for the Michigan Department of Corrections, told the outlet that an officer spotted McRae near an abandoned building around 1:30 a.m. on June 7, 2019.
“When asked, he admitted he had a gun on him and did not have a concealed weapons permit,” Gautz said. “He claimed he left home to walk to a store (to) buy cigarettes and feared for his safety so he took his gun.”
The officer recovered a Ruger LCP .380 semi-automatic pistol from McRae’s pants pocket, according to the report, as well as a loaded magazine in his breast pocket.
He was charged with a violation of concealed carry law and possessing a loaded weapon in a vehicle. He pleaded guilty to the latter charge, while the former was dropped. He never served time in connection with the incident but was placed on probation in late 2019 and was “successfully discharged” on May 14, 2021.
McRae’s neighbors recounted a time when police were called to the quiet street where he lived with his father years ago after the younger McRae fired a gun outside the family home, according to the Detroit Free Press.
McRae’s older brother, Michael McRae, said his brother was “definitely a loner” and said he doesn’t “have a clue” what motivated the shooting.
MSU has moved to emergency operations for two days to allow students, staff and faculty “to think, grieve and be together” after a “day of shock and heartbreak,” interim MSU president Teresa Woodruff said.
“We are devastated at the loss of life. Our campus grieves, we will all grieve,” Woodruff said. “We will change over time. We cannot allow this to continue to happen again.”
