(WXYZ) — Krista Grettenberger’s son, Troy Forbush, was one of the victims who survived the horror of the shooting at MSU on February 14. She was just minutes away when he called to say he’d been shot and he loved her.
“I raced there. I abandoned my car when I was blocked by police barricades.”
She gave testimony Wednesday in front of the House Judiciary Committee.
“There I found Troy being loaded into the ambulance. He was as gray as cement,” she recalled, her voice quivering at times.
Grettenberger detailed his violent interaction that day.
“In the classroom, my son came face-to-face with the shooter and plead for his life, ‘Please don’t shoot me!’ were the words they said before the gunman shot him in his chest.”
Grettenberger said a school shooting was her son’s worst nightmare, something he had practiced for over and over again from the time he was a little boy.
“This is not normal. This is a nightmare. This is a recurring nightmare!” she exclaimed at the hearing.
Grettenberger said it’s impossible to know for sure if the gun reform proposals before the Michigan legislature would have stopped the tragedy, but she also said anyone could have made a difference.
Following her testimony, three bills, House Bill 4138, House Bill 4142, and House Bill 4143 were approved by the Michigan House
Michigan State Representative Kelly Breen, a Democrat, summed up what they do.
“It makes it so that even private sales are included in background checks and not just through a federally licensed firearm dealer,” she explained.
There are still 8 additional bills pertaining to gun control. Representative Breen explained why she’s behind them.
“We’ve got a problem in this country. It used to be that car crashes were the number one killer of children and now it’s firearm deaths,” she said.
The vote to approve the bills fell along party lines. Michigan Representative Doug Wozniak, a Republican, voted against approval.
“When I look at the different rights, I think they need to be defended equally," he explained. “And I think trying to control people by taking away their rights is just not the right thing to do.”
Still, he acknowledged something needs to be done.
“I think there’s ways to make sure those protections stay in there. But we have to make sure overall that kids and schools are safe,” said Wozniak.
