As yet another mass shooting tragedy hit the news yesterday – this one involving 21 fatalities at a Texas elementary school, the deadliest school shooting since Sandy Hook — Attorney General Dana Nessel again called for common-sense measures to stem the tide of firearms that continue to easily end up in the hands of mentally unstable perpetrators.
Nessel pointed out that mass shootings such as the one yesterday in Uvalde, TX, don’t just harm the families of the victims, they destroy the very fabric of the communities in which they happen. “I am utterly heartbroken for the Uvalde survivors and families of the victims,” she said. “Over the past few months, I have spent a lot of time meeting with the families affected by the Oxford High School shooting last year, and to witness the pain and devastation they continue to suffer has been horrific. They are desperate to end the bloodshed, as am I. Kids at school should be worrying about their grades, not whether they’ll survive an active shooter.”
The gun violence reform work undertaken by Nessel’s office includes:
· Helping to lead the national fight against ghost guns, which are unregulated, unregistered firearms that anyone, including minors and those who can’t pass a criminal background check, can buy and assemble themselves. Ghost guns are the number one weapon used in homicides and Nessel continues to work with local and federal law enforcement on abatement.
· Calling on the Legislature to pass extreme risk protection laws, which typically authorize law enforcement agencies and a person’s family or household members to present evidence to a judge, under oath, that a specific individual has demonstrated a clear risk of harming themselves or others with a firearm in the near future.
· Joining with 23 other attorneys general in 2020 to urge the U.S. Senate to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, which would close the boyfriend loophole as part of the legislation. Violence against women has been a public health crisis for generations, and closing this loophole will prevent certain abusive dating partners from continuing to possess firearms under federal law.
· Partnering with State Police Col. Joe Gasper and the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office to ensure any protests that occurred at the Capitol were peaceful and free of violence and intimidation after protesters armed with assault rifles barged into the Senate chamber and attempted to intimidate lawmakers in 2020.
· Strongly supporting safe storage provisions that would raise the age of those who can legally purchase firearms to 21 and require adult gun owners to keep them secured and out of the hands of kids.
· Visiting school districts across Michigan to promote school safety and advocate for more funding to keep kids safe. Nessel has met with the Oxford High School families regularly, including a meeting her office held just today.
· Signing on to nearly a dozen amicus briefs and comments regarding court cases that aim to curb gun violence and/or enact common-sense reforms.
“America is awash in guns like never before after NRA lobbyists and their allies in the Republican party spent decades and millions of dollars to unwind existing regulations and obstruct all efforts to enact simple reforms, such as limiting extended-capacity magazines or closing the boyfriend loophole,” Nessel said. “My opponent, Matt DePerno, is among those who love to say that guns don’t kill people, people do. While that may contain a grain of truth, nothing causes mass casualty events like assault rifles, and DePerno has no problem with people carrying them openly and publicly – at the Capitol, in the voting booth, and even at schools. What happens when someone with such easy access to weapons of war snaps, as we see almost every day?”
DePerno has been outspoken in his beliefs that Michiganders should be able to openly carry weapons, including assault rifles, whenever and wherever they see fit. At a debate for GOP primary candidates earlier this year, DePerno said he believes that “regulation equals confiscation” and, if elected, promised to pull out of a lawsuit AG Nessel’s office signed onto to prevent gun manufacturers from marketing their weapons to gang members. He often proclaims to be a supporter of so-called constitutional carry, which is the idea that no state permit should be required to carry a gun, whether openly or in a concealed manner.
“Who knows how DePerno feels about school shootings, because when he was asked about the Oxford school shooting a few days after it happened, he attempted to pivot into a conversation about Critical Race Theory, which is not taught in any K-12 school in Michigan,” Nessel said. “He couldn’t even be bothered to post the standard ‘thoughts and prayers’ statement on his social media after yesterday’s sickening violence. With his record of downplaying school shootings and glorifying guns, spreading conspiracy theories, and condoning political violence, how can Michigan residents trust him to be the state’s top law enforcement official?”
A former criminal prosecutor and civil rights attorney who played a key role in the 2015 US Supreme Court case that legalized marriage equality, Nessel lives in metro Detroit with her wife, Alanna, and their two sons. Learn more about her campaign at www.dananessel.com.
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