Walkouts planned throughout Twin Cities on Friday in push for assault weapons ban

Minnesotans, and people across the country, are making their voices heard following last week’s deadly mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis.

Students in the Twin Cities are set to stage walkouts, demanding state and federal lawmakers pass bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

Starting at noon, walkouts are planned in communities including Eagan, Hopkins, Golden Valley and Stillwater, to name a few.

At 1 p.m., faith leaders and activists will gather at the Minnesota Capitol in St. Paul to demand lawmakers address gun safety in a possible upcoming special session announced earlier this week by Democratic Gov. Tim Walz.

“The things that make America unique in terms of shootings is we just have more guns and the wrong kinds of guns that are on the streets,” Walz said on Tuesday.

In a statement released soon after Walz’s announcement, House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, called the governor’s move a “knee-jerk reaction,” with Republican leadership laying out their special session priorities, including increased funding for school resource officers and repealing or amending gender-affirming care laws. The latter appears to be connected to questions about the gender identity of the Annunciation shooter at the time of the massacre. The shooter’s legal name and gender were changed to female in 2020.    

The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus believes assault weapon bans won’t reduce gun crimes, and instead wants lawmakers to “strengthen mental health resources, expand community support, and secure schools-steps that research shows actually work and will gain broad bipartisan support.”  

Similar demonstrations have occurred in the wake of the Annunciation tragedy, including rallies last week in the Twin Cities and a walkout Wednesday where students from the Minneapolis Catholic high school DeLaSalle marched from Nicollet Island to downtown’s Gold Medal Park and the Hennepin County Government Center.  

“I think also just after the last incident at Annunciation, a lot of students, including ourselves, felt really restless about the situation,” DeLaSalle senior Solveigh Bratulich told WCCO. “And obviously we’ve heard a lot about thoughts and prayers, and thoughts and prayers not being enough, and it felt like we needed to do something.”     

Also on Friday morning at 10 a.m., Archbishop Bernard Hebda, head of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, is inviting the community to join him in praying the rosary, which will be livestreamed on Facebook. Catholic schools are also invited to join in solidarity in the call to end gun violence against children.  

This story will be updated.

Anthony Bettin

contributed to this report.