All too often public policy is heavily influenced by political correctness.
But that can muck things up with dire consequences, and that may well be true in a recent case.
Now it seems that the Michigan shooter might not have had a gun if not for this action by a far-Left prosecutor.
Earlier this week, a gunman killed three and wounded five others at Michigan State University.
It was a senseless tragedy, but now comes word that it may have been preventable.
Anthony McRae, the shooter, was charged in June 2019 with illegally carrying a concealed handgun without a permit, but thanks to the office of Ingham County prosecutor Carol Siemon (D), those charges were later dismissed.
Siemon’s office let McRae plead guilty to a less severe misdemeanor gun charge.
As a result, McRae served only a little more than a year on probation, ending in May of 2021.
Had he been charged with a felony he could have faced up to five years in prison.
“Not in any way linked to the goal that we share of keeping the public safe”
Siemon retired from the prosecutor’s office earlier this year after stiff criticism from judges and law enforcement officials for her not prosecuting criminals.
During her tenure, she made it an official policy to drop mandatory prison sentences for felony gun charges.
According to Siemon, such policies led to “dramatic racial inequity” and are “not in any way linked to the goal that we share of keeping the public safe.”
That assessment didn’t age well at all, to put it mildly.
Siemon is joined at the hip with George Soros and shares the worldview of other disastrous prosecutors that won’t prosecute who garnered his support and millions of dollars.
She participated in criminal reform junkets with Philadelphia’s Larry Krasner, Chicago’s Kim Foxx, and Los Angeles’s George Gascón.
In addition, Siemon supported the radical San Francisco prosecutor Chesa Boudin ahead of a recall campaign that eventually booted him from office.
Michigan Circuit Court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina says, “She is not a legislator, she is not a judge, and she is making our community unsafe.”
Jason Johnson, president of the Law Enforcement Legal Defense Fund, says, “Progressive prosecutors such as Ms. Siemon continue to value reducing the incarcerated population over their duty to protect the public by enforcing the law.”
Number one goal is to reduce gun violence
Siemon’s successor, John Dewane, doesn’t share Siemon’s affinity for giving offenders a Get Out of Jail Free Card and has taken steps to toughen charges for repeat offenders.
Dewane said, “My number one goal, and I put out some policies with regard to this issue, is the increase in gun violence in our community, specifically the Lansing area. McRae would not have been able to legally purchase, own, or possess a firearm” if he had been convicted of carrying a concealed weapon.”
McRae’s neighbors had called the police last summer after hearing him fire his gun in the backyard of his father’s home in Lansing.
Chalk this up to one more tragedy that could have been avoided if not for the far-Left obsession for coddling criminals.
It’s encouraging to see that one wayward prosecutor’s replacement is an upgrade.
Here’s to hoping for more of the same in communities across the country before more senseless losses of life.
Stay tuned to Blue State Blues for any updates to this ongoing story.
