Training Weapon Causes Emergency Alert at MSU
Updated: All seems to be fine at this time.
An emergency alert was sent out by MSU around 1 PM
http://michiganstate.247sports.com/Board/93/Man-with-gun-seen-heading-i…
Official text:
"MSU ALERT, Man with a gun seen heading into Bessy hall secure-in-place immediately. please advise others if you can. www.msu.edu for more info"
It has since been claimed that the weapon was a training weapon and that all is well.
Since this post now exists, kudos to MSU staff for moving quickly on this and deploying alerts, as well as locking down classrooms quickly.
February 24th, 2014 at 1:14 PM ^
I just got this text as well. Scary as I used to work in that building from time to time. Hopefully they get that dude before anything serious goes down.
February 24th, 2014 at 1:18 PM ^
Edit - This was official from the university
Update - It was a training weapon.
February 24th, 2014 at 3:44 PM ^
What the F#&K is a training weapon?
February 24th, 2014 at 11:01 PM ^
Air force uses "smurf guns" for training. Looks like an M16, feels like an M16, as heavy as an M16. But it had blue hand guards, blue stock and I think some other parts were blue. It was a big rubberized rifle that couldn't fire a round if you tried. Could be similar but more convincing.
February 24th, 2014 at 1:15 PM ^
Hope all is well.
February 24th, 2014 at 1:17 PM ^
and hope this is just a false alarm.
February 24th, 2014 at 1:17 PM ^
RCMB is saying it was a false alarm. FYI
February 24th, 2014 at 1:17 PM ^
this from their main site:
MSU ALERT: At 1:00pm we had a report of a person with a gun at Bessey Hall. MSUPD found a person using a training weapon and there is no threat.
February 24th, 2014 at 1:25 PM ^
It's been cancelled. Person was carrying a training weapon.
edit: Bessey Hall is the location of the Air Force ROTC on MSU's campus. I've seen ROTC members with training rifles before, so that's my best guess as to the cause.
February 24th, 2014 at 1:18 PM ^
A training weapon while class is in session?? WTF man. Use your noggin.
February 24th, 2014 at 1:21 PM ^
be an ROTC cadet. Part of their daily thing, I suppose.
February 24th, 2014 at 2:18 PM ^
I highly doubt some random ROTC cadet decided to just go out and grab a training weapon of his own accord and start carrying it around the campus. If MSU's AFROTC does it anything like we did, and I'll bet they do, the rifles are treated exactly as if they were real weapons, with the same sort of accountability and security. Serial numbers, sign-outs, lock and key, the whole deal. So when they're taken out, there's a good reason, and it isn't just one guy running around going "look at me, I'm Rambo!"
February 24th, 2014 at 1:20 PM ^
That is something this country does need any more of.
February 24th, 2014 at 1:21 PM ^
Thankfully this was a false alarm, but a training weapon for what?
February 24th, 2014 at 1:22 PM ^
Can someone explain what that means? Was he a plain clothes cop? was this just a drill? IIRC carrying guns on campus is illegal, as more develops I'm sure we'll find out, just genuinely wondering what's going on.
February 24th, 2014 at 1:23 PM ^
but ROTC cadets/drill teams use training weapons for all sorts of reasons.
February 24th, 2014 at 1:23 PM ^
I know what training pants are. I know what a training bra is. I know what Training Day is.
But what the heck is a "training weapon"? Presumably it's the sort of thing you drill with if you're ROTC or something, but is "training weapon" an accepted term for all you gunslingers out there?
February 24th, 2014 at 2:10 PM ^
I was in the NROTC. We had real rifles which had been gutted (a gash ran down the entire length of the barrel) to prevent their ever being fired again. Yes, we called them training weapons. We used them for drilling, both trick and standard, and to practice taking them apart and putting them back together. (For the record, I used to be able to do that in under three minutes.)
February 24th, 2014 at 4:13 PM ^
So is that faster than forrest gump?
February 24th, 2014 at 1:29 PM ^
Suidae Slaughter 401 - Humane and Sanitary Swine Dispatch Methodology?
February 24th, 2014 at 1:36 PM ^
No politics.
February 24th, 2014 at 1:41 PM ^
the Ag School was getting some research done on the back end of the animal husbandry cycle.
February 24th, 2014 at 7:32 PM ^
it's hard to bring up a topic about someone causing a scare by walking around with a non functional firearm in public without politics being brought up. this is the internet after all.
it wouldn't bother me much. then again i live in an area where i routinely see people driving around with a small arsenal on the back window of their hill billy mobile.
February 24th, 2014 at 4:49 PM ^
during a parade
February 24th, 2014 at 1:45 PM ^
Another MSU thread on this site. Yay
February 24th, 2014 at 1:50 PM ^
this joke won't go quite like you planned.
February 24th, 2014 at 2:00 PM ^
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!1!!
February 24th, 2014 at 1:45 PM ^
Another MSU thread on this site. Yay
February 24th, 2014 at 1:57 PM ^
February 24th, 2014 at 2:01 PM ^
Browser was acting up. Either way, point sill stands. This board is full of MSU threads, it's embarassing.
February 24th, 2014 at 2:04 PM ^
this is not one of them.
February 24th, 2014 at 3:16 PM ^
No, this is not a "we are so obsessed with MSU" thread. This was a "hey, we don't like them in sports but we not sick heartless bastards so I hope they're ok and also we want to give a heads up to any fellow mgobloggers or MSU fans who roam this board to be careful" thread. There's a big difference.
If this was an ill timed joke on your part, well it sucked and was way too ill-timed. If it was honestly saying you're sick of MSU related threads on here, well again, your timing still sucks.
February 24th, 2014 at 2:01 PM ^
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA NO ITS EVEN FUNNIER THE SECOND TIME
February 24th, 2014 at 1:59 PM ^
When I was at MSU it was common to see the ROTC members around campus, particularly by Demonstration Hall which is near the athletic facilities, IM facilities and other common areas of campus. I've seen them doing drills, conditioning even in fatigues practicing combat scenarios. One such time there was a group of ROTC members crawling on the ground in the shrubs with training weapons. Kind of weird. But then again, a friend of mine was in the ROTC at MSU and survived multiple tours in Afghanistan so I suppose I cannot knock the training.
February 24th, 2014 at 2:12 PM ^
is a "training weapon" a non-working play gun? or a working (hopefully unloaded) gun used for training?
February 24th, 2014 at 2:24 PM ^
As I mentioned above, ours were real rifles that no longer worked and never would. Some units may have something different. Hollowed-out shells or some such. Never are they capable of firing a bullet. But I sure as heck wouldn't call them "play guns" either.
It's also possible it may be a rubber gun. The DoD (at least, the Navy does) uses rubber guns to simulate the shape and heft of a real weapon so they can run security drills and actually point them at people without even the possibility of waving around a loaded real gun. Those are always bright red though so if someone called the police over a bright red gun they are idiots. Chances are it was a gutted rifle. A real rifle that can't shoot.
February 24th, 2014 at 2:41 PM ^
intended here. But if I were running a ROTC program I think I'd use training weapons that could not possibly be mistaken for something that could live fire. Bright red or orange sound like good options. My choice of the term "toy" was a poor one.
February 24th, 2014 at 3:07 PM ^
All sorts of reasons exist to use real rifles.
1) Disassembly and reassembly is a necessary skill. Out in the field you are your own technician. You have to know how to clean it and repair it.
2) Besides the fact that orange rifles would look silly while drilling in uniform, drill teams use real ones for all sorts of reasons, ranging from the pleasing crack sound made by slapping the wooden stock to the necessary discipline learned by cleaning them and having them inspected. Drill team competitions knock points off for using fakes. Some teams do use them, and those teams lose.
3) Rubber rifles would have a very undesirable flex and give when spinning them around the way trick drill teams do. And if by chance you had someone in your trick drill program who was really good and aspired to eventually join the prestigious 8th & I silent drill team, making him drill with rubber rifles would prepare him as well as spring football practice with foam footballs.
4) In trying to learn about accountability for weapons, the lesson simply does not sink in if you're using rubber guns.
No offense meant, but if you were running a ROTC program you'd have more to think about when considering that particular decision (if it's even a decision) than whether some civilian was scared of your non-working WWII and Vietnam-vintage rifles.
February 24th, 2014 at 4:17 PM ^
Let's agree that the real-but-disabled weaponry should not be visible amongst the general campus community given the recent tragedies at schools involving firearms.... I know no politics... and I have no problem with guns in general. I'm an avid hunter and fisherman. But, military style weapons on campus are going to scare people unless they're clearly in the hands of uniformed personnel.
February 24th, 2014 at 5:02 PM ^
In advance, I'm honestly not trying to sound like Mr. Gotta Be Last Word here, but I don't agree that the real-but-disabled weaponry should be hidden from sight. Admittedly, it makes things easier for people to tell what's going on if they see a whole group of people rather than just one guy, even if those people aren't in uniform, and the ROTC units can work on figuring out ways not to have one guy walking around with a weapon in hand looking for all the world like a lone gunman. But I keep thinking how likely it was that I or a friend of mine probably did the exact same thing at some point and didn't get the cops called on them. I don't think you or I are crossing a political line by having this discussion, I simply think it's possible for ROTC to be able to do their thing like any other campus organization without it being a federal case.
February 24th, 2014 at 4:43 PM ^
Just sayin'.
Something that easy to do makes people feel safe.
February 24th, 2014 at 2:25 PM ^
cannot fire live ammunition. Its used for training that does not involve actually shooting at anything.
February 24th, 2014 at 8:55 PM ^
glad that this wasn't a live gun. Also am happy that MSU's procedures put in place to lock-down and notify everyone is working well.