LANSING, Mich. — Marco Diaz-Munoz, an assistant professor at Michigan State University whose classroom was attacked by a gunman, encouraged Michigan lawmakers Thursday to do the "right thing" and the "humane thing" by enacting new gun control measures.
Diaz-Munoz, 64, was teaching a class in Berkey Hall about Cuban cultural identity on Feb. 13 when the gunman opened fire, killing two students. For the entirety of the evening, the mass shooting on the university campus in East Lansing left three students dead and wounded five others.
It was the darkest event of Diaz-Munoz's life, he told members of the Michigan Senate's Civil Rights, Judiciary, and Public Safety Committee.
"Before the tragic events at MSU, I was already a supporter of sensible gun control laws," Diaz-Munoz said. "However, my experience that night has strongly solidified my belief that gun control laws are an absolute necessity to stop the senseless killings that occur on a daily basis in this country."
The humanities professor spoke for about 10 minutes during the hearing, which focused on bills to require criminal background checks for all gun purchases and licenses for people who want to buy firearms, institute a safe storage standard for guns in the home and permit "extreme risk" protection orders, also known as a red flag law, to allow guns to be taken away from people deemed a risk to themselves and others.
Diaz-Munoz was one of a handful of people who shared personal stories about how gun violence had affected their lives during the three-hour-long Senate committee hearing.
Democrats, who took control of the Legislature in January, have already committed to enacting policies to combat gun violence.
"If you switched places with me and saw what I saw and witnessed the deaths of my students, and they were your daughters, your nieces, your loved ones, you would be shamed into silence and be moved to sign the much-needed laws to end gun violence," Diaz-Munoz said.
His testimony came 17 days after the mass shooting at MSU.
Jo Kovach, president of MSU's student body, urged lawmakers on Thursday to do their jobs and pass bills that will save lives.
"Vote so that nobody else ever has to bear this burden, because it's an extremely heavy one," Kovach said.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, also spoke at the hearing Thursday, vowing to vigorously defend the bills if they were enacted into law and challenged.
"To those who say that you should not enact these laws because they will only save some gun violence victims and not all gun violence victims, I say this: How dare you?" Nessel told the committee.
Three of the bills in the proposed package would require an individual to obtain a license before purchasing, carrying, possessing or transporting any firearm in Michigan, expanding current requirements for pistols.
Another proposal would require an individual who stores a firearm at home and knows the firearm could be accessed by a minor to store the firearm in a locked container or keep the firearm unloaded and locked.
The red flag bill would allow a spouse or a family member to file an action with a circuit court requesting the court to issue an "extreme risk protection order" to prohibit someone from possessing or purchasing a firearm. For an order to be issued, it would have to be shown that the person posed a significant risk of personal injury to themselves or others by possessing a firearm.
John Lott, president of the Crime Prevention Research Center, spoke against the bills Thursday, saying they could lead to more deaths not fewer.
"People use guns defensively to stop violent crimes about five times more frequently each year than they're used to commit crime," Lott said.
The most vulnerable people benefit the most from having guns available for protection, Lott argued.
A House committee took testimony on similar bills on Wednesday.
(Staff writers Carol Thompson and Beth LeBlanc contributed.)
