Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Tuesday confirmed he is talking to legislators about a potential special session to address gun violence after a mass shooting at a Minneapolis church.
“The sad reality of it is is that what happened last week is preventable, because so many nations around the world do it,” Walz said while attending the first day of school at Deerwood Elementary in Eagan. “And we cannot resign ourselves to believe that our little ones can’t be safe in what should be and always is the most safe environments they can possibly be in.”
A shooter firing through the windows of Annunciation Catholic Church during a school Mass killed two children and injured 21 other people — most of them also kids — on Wednesday morning. Since then, parents, community members and other elected officials have called for change.
The focus of the special session would be on additional gun-related measures. It would bring lawmakers back to the Capitol earlier than the start of the regular session in February. Walz said he plans to put out a proposal “in the next day or so that I think is very comprehensive, it’s been done in other places, it’s been done without infringements on people’s Second Amendment rights, but it has proven that it will help protect our students.”
“I am not going to allow anyone to try and make the case that the United States is unique in either mental health issues or other things,” he said. “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 acknowledged that the split Legislature would make passing gun laws difficult. Though Minnesota passed enhanced background checks and red flag laws in 2023, more recent efforts have failed in the divided Legislature.
“I have made the case and I am calling through legislators to try and make sure they get there, because I can call a special session, I can’t run a special session,” Walz said. “And to be very candid, just in a very evenly divided — I’m going to need some Republicans to break with the orthodoxy and say that we need to do something on guns, and that’s the opportunity right now.”
A senior administrative official told WCCO last week Walz was considering a special session on gun control as early as this month. GOP House Speaker Lisa Demuth and Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson both said at the time that Walz had not spoken to them about a special session.
“As we work through this tragedy, we need to lead with grace and cooperation, not political rallies and vitriol. I look forward to the coming conversations on how we can most effectively address the evil we saw this week perpetrated against the most vulnerable among us,” Demuth said.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey called for a ban on assault weapons after the Annunciation shooting. In response to Frey’s comments, the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus said it “opposes any ban on commonly owned semi-automatic firearms and standard-capacity magazines. Such proposals are unconstitutional and do nothing to reduce crime.”
Typically, only the governor can call a special session, though the Legislature can set its length.
“If Minnesota lets this moment slide and we determine that it’s OK for little ones not to be safe in a school environment or a church environment, then shame on us,” Walz said.
contributed to this report.
Anthony Bettin
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