With no history of violent offenses and only minor scrapes with the law, mostly vehicle charges, he eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in Ingham County, which includes much of Lansing, and was sentenced to 18 months of probation, which left open the option of purchasing weapons in the future.
When Mr. McRae was found, Chief Rozman said, he had two handguns, along with additional magazines and ammunition. Mr. McRae had no known connection to the university.
“There is always room for some type of discrepancy or discretion,” Chief Ellery Sosebee of the Lansing Police Department said of the prosecutor’s decision to accept the plea deal. “However, that one will be scrutinized for a long time.”
Speaking to reporters at the Michigan State Capitol on Wednesday, Dana Nessel, the state’s attorney general, said that the sentencing guidelines for concealed weapon charges are minimal without any prior offenses.
“At this point, it’s almost impossible for a person to actually serve time for it,” Ms. Nessel said. “So when I see people saying, ‘Well, he should’ve done five years for carrying a concealed weapon,’ first, that’s such a common offense that we’d have to build new prisons.”
The way the laws are written, Ms. Nessel said, it would be “impractical and improbable” for someone to receive a felony conviction for carrying a concealed weapon without significant prior offenses.
Carol Siemon, the Ingham County prosecutor at the time, did not respond to a request for comment on Thursday afternoon. In an email to Bridge Michigan, a nonprofit news site, Ms. Siemon defended her decision, adding that plea deals like Mr. McRae’s were “standard” practice.