LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – The parents of Michigan State University students are frequent visitors to the Eastl Lansing campus for sporting events and tailgating. They join friends and students in the joy of college life.

But on Feb. 13, 2023, there was no joy. Those parents were shocked to learn, via the media and frantic cell phone calls from their loved ones that the unthinkable was unfolding on the campus as a lone shooter moved from Berkey Hall to the Student Union. Parents hoped their children were unharmed.

One of those parents Winnie Brinks. Her daughter was on campus that night.

Brinks is the Senate Majority Leader and a Democrat.

Her memories of that night still give her pause.

“I can’t helpd but remember sitting with my daughter the day after the shooting incident – in the basement of the house where she was living, right next to campus,” Brinks says, “and thinking of all the things that could have gone better.”

The events of the tragic night provided the momentum in the legislature to pass a series of gun safety-related measures – some of which took effect Tuesday. Among those provisions: Mandatory safe storage in homes where young children live, and a deeper dive into the backgrounds of gun buyers in hopes of preventing guns from getting into the wrong hands.

On the East Lansing Campus, university officials conducted their own deep dive into what went right and what went wrong that night.

Now, 82 percent of the classroom doors in campus buildings can be locked from the inside. A new, more extensive camera system is coming online and additional changes are underway.

Brinks and her colleagues in the House will be listening and when able acting to protect everyone on campus.

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