EAST LANSING, Mich. — State Attorney General Dana Nessel offered her sympathies to the victims of the Oxford High School shooting and their families. But she's also advocating for what she calls proper action on gun laws. Earlier today, 13 On Your Side asked her what that meant.
Here is part of her answer:
"You know, in Michigan, you can purchase a firearm at the age of 18, even though you can't buy a beer. That seems odd to me. And I don't understand why when we know that 18-year-olds are still in high school, when you're 18, you're a senior in high school. Why do we allow a kid that we know is going to be going to high school to be able to purchase firearms? Why can't we just make that 21 as we do with other types of products that are frankly much less dangerous than firearms. I mean, these are pretty simple measures that we can take just to ensure that our kids are safer at school and I think we ought to absolutely move those kinds of bills forward and pass them as quickly as possible."
Some excerpts from the interview are as follows:
Nick LaFave: Does your office have any jurisdiction over this case at all? And if so, are you looking at filing charges against anyone?
Dana Nessel: Right. So I mean, technically speaking, we have jurisdiction statewide. But you know, a case like this, I mean, I expect that it's going to be handled by the Oakland County prosecutor's office, I will say that my staff has been in regular contact with them. And, you know, we've offered any kind of aid or assistance that she might need or require. You know, Karen McDonald is an excellent county prosecutor, obviously, she's taking this matter incredibly seriously. And I expect that in terms of charging decisions, or anything of that nature, that, you know, she is going to take all the most important factors into consideration and make the right decision.
Nick LaFave: Speaking of those factors, we now know the father purchased this gun four days before the shooting. We still do not know if the alleged shooter stole the gun took it, if it was given. But do you see any potential culpability on the on the side of the parents here the father?
Dana Nessel: Let me remove this for a second from this particular set of circumstances, because I don't know all the circumstances yet. I don't want to speculate. But I will say that in other circumstances that are similar in nature, you know, we have seen prosecutors that have charged involuntary manslaughter against parents who have failed to properly secure weapons, especially if the children knew that those weapons were in the household. And then, you know, took possession of those firearms and use them to inflict injury upon themselves, or others. So that is a possibility. I would say what I think is incredibly important is that we take some lessons away from this very tragic set of circumstances, you know, we don't have any laws in the state of Michigan that involve what we call a CAP law, child access prevention laws. And they're very simple. And many states have this. And simply they require that if an individual purchases a firearm, and has to keep that firearm in a place where there are children that they be made to secure that weapon and to store it safely. And it's so common sense to do. If you have a 15 year old, for instance, in your home, especially one who may be experiencing some mental health related issues, you certainly don't want to provide unfettered access to firearms to that child. I mean, you want to make sure that that child cannot access firearms under really any circumstances. Now, when you have events, like parents who are taking their kids hunting or something of that nature, that's allowable under the law where they're being supervised, when they're handling weapons for that purpose, but to have any home where a child can get a hold of a semi automatic weapon, without any parental supervision and take that weapon to school, I think is a really disturbing set of circumstances. I think we have to do better. In Michigan, there is a law that's pending right now, or a proposed bill that is pending, that can be passed into law, that again, would simply require secure storage of firearms from children. Isn't that the least that we can do? Isn't that the minimum that we can take away from this situation? Can't we just care a little bit more about our kids than we do our guns just for a minute, and make sure that a tragedy of the scale doesn't happen again. And again.
Nick LaFave: You lead actually right into my next question. On Twitter, you wrote, 'we must act to properly address gun violence in our schools properly.' What does acting properly to address gun violence look like to you?
Dana Nessel: Well, one of the things is what I just talked about, right? A CAP law make it harder for kids to be able to obtain guns and bring them to school. Another is, in Michigan, you can purchase a firearm at the age of 18, even though you can't buy a beer. That seems odd to me.18-year-olds are still in high school, you're a senior in high school. Why do we allow a kid that we know is going to high school to be able to purchase firearms? Why can't we just make that 21 as we do with other types of products that are frankly much less dangerous than firearms. I mean, these are pretty simple measures that we can take just to ensure that our kids are safer at school and I think we ought to absolutely move those kinds of bills forward and pass them as quickly as possible, we have other kinds of bills that have been proposed in the past that are really so common sense are red flag laws. We've seen those proposed time and time again, but get no traction in the legislature. They're very simple. You know, when you see that a person is undergoing some sort of a mental breakdown, where they've made threats to them their own life or to the life of others, that you temporarily remove their firearms from them so that they can't hurt anyone. And you know, you have a court hearing if the court determines that that person's not a threat, and they get their firearms back. But this prevents a countless number of not just homicides, and suicides by people who are having a hard time, you know, and again, these are not the kind of laws that in any way, shape or form significantly infringe upon people's Second Amendment rights. But they sure do create a much more safe and secure society. And I think it's time for us to move forward, to stop offering just our thoughts and prayers and take real action to make Michigan a safer place for our kids to live and for everyone to reside.
The video of the entire interview can be viewed here:
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