Minnesota Democrats renew push for new gun control measures
Minnesota Democrats are renewing their pressure campaign to compel state Republicans to support new gun control laws after several high-profile fatal shootings last summer and a subsequent failed effort to pass new measures, like a ban on so-called assault weapons.
Gov. Tim Walz announced a gun violence prevention package at a Capitol press conference Tuesday that includes 15 proposals, including another attempt at an assault weapons ban; a high-capacity magazine ban; additional school safety measures; requiring the safe storage of firearms; and mandatory reporting of lost or stolen firearms. The Minnesota Legislature is narrowly split — Republicans and Democrats share power in the Minnesota House — so Walz needs bipartisan support to pass any gun control legislation.
Walz last August pledged to call a special legislative session to pass gun control bills after a shooting at the Church of Annunciation in Minneapolis left two children dead and more than two dozen others wounded. The mass shooting came not long after Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed in their home in June.
Republicans — and even a few Democratic — legislators were not on board with the governor’s proposals last year, and negotiations broke down.
On Tuesday, Walz said he’s pushing for gun control again because he promised the families of the Annunciation victims that he would do all he could to ensure other Minnesota kids don’t become victims. The governor also said that he hopes what Minnesota experienced during Operation Metro Surge will sway some legislators.
“I think the violence that we’ve seen since that time of Annunciation should, hopefully, move people to do something,” Walz said.
Lydia Kaiser, an eighth grader who was shot in the head while protecting a younger student during the Annunciation mass shooting, on Tuesday recounted how she was rushed into surgery after being shot. Doctors removed almost half of her skull to let her brain swell and removed bone and bullet fragments from her head. Kaiser said she had a second surgery weeks later to reattach her skull.
“All children have the right to live free from gun violence in schools, churches and in our communities,” Kaiser said. “Elected officials have a duty to protect us from guns. No one should have to go through what we went through at Annunciation.”
Walz’s gun control package included re-passing a ban on binary triggers, which double the rate of fire of a semiautomatic firearm. A judge struck down the provision last year after ruling that the bill — an all-but-the-kitchen sink measure — violated the Minnesota Constitution’s rule requiring legislation to be about a single subject.
The Walz package includes a bill allowing cities and counties to enact their own gun control measures. Walz is also proposing the creation of a firearm and ammunition tax that would be imposed on retailers — 10% on handguns and 11% on long guns and ammo. And the governor is proposing additional mental health support and resources that schools can access to bolster safety.
In response to Walz’s proposal, House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring and floor leader Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, said in a statement that they were pleased that Walz acknowledges additional mental health and school safety resources help prevent violence.
Demuth and Niska insinuated Walz’s assault weapons and high-capacity magazine bans are unconstitutional.
“We look forward to working together on bills that keep people safe and protect our constitutional rights,” Demuth and Niska said.
The Annunciation Light Alliance, a group of parents and community members advocating for gun control after the Annunciation shooting, this week put up a display of 60 empty school desks outside the Capitol.
They represent the Minnesota children killed in acts of gun violence since 2021.
Inside the Capitol, they also set up the desks of Harper Moyski and Fletcher Merkel, the two children killed in the Annunciation mass shooting.
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This article, “Minnesota Democrats renew push for new gun control measures,” has been republished from the Minnesota Reformer under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
