Minnesota lawmakers from both parties say they’re open to returning to the Capitol to consider policy changes after a deadly school shooting in Minneapolis. But what might come out of a special session — if one materializes — is harder to gauge.
Gov. Tim Walz and fellow Democrats want to impose new curbs on high-powered guns and ammunition clips that spray many bullets in short order; Republicans and gun rights groups predict those restrictions wouldn’t advance.
“I think if Minnesota lets this moment slide and we determine that it’s OK for little ones to not be safe in a school environment or a church environment, then shame on us,” Walz said outside an Eagan school Tuesday morning. “So I’m going to call them back and ask them to do it.”
On Tuesday, a group of Twin Cities area mayors added to the pressure campaign, saying they want the authority to clamp down on guns if lawmakers refuse to do it on the state level. That in itself would require a state law change.
With a narrow split in the Legislature, only bills with bipartisan backing will advance. So while top line-items for Democrats could be up for debate, others like boosting mental health supports and school security measures, would have a clearer path forward.
Only Walz can call a special legislative session. But lawmakers call the shots about what they take up and when they adjourn. Typically, governors and legislative leaders strike a deal in advance about the parameters of a special session to keep it from going off the rails.
In this case, that hasn’t happened yet. Walz said he’ll put out a package of proposals in the coming days and could call the special session after he connects with Republicans.
House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, said she got that call on Tuesday.
She said there are areas where lawmakers could come together, such as expanding mental health services and security measures in schools. But if Democrats refuse to budge from their bid to restrict firearms, she said, “this special session will not be productive for the people of Minnesota.”
“What my caucus is most interested in is things that would make meaningful change going forward,” Demuth said. “I think it’s important for people to remember that people with criminal intent do not follow our current laws. They’re not going to follow new laws. If somebody is intent on hurting people, taking lives and causing destruction, they’re going to find a way to do it.”
Demuth said lawmakers should focus on prevention efforts like ensuring Minnesotans have access to mental health care.
“The earlier there are mental health interventions in someone’s life, it makes it better for that person going forward. And so those that has to be part of the discussions as we go forward,” she said.
So far, there hasn’t been much detail put behind the call for added services. That leaves it unclear whether that would mean publicly funded health services, if there would be more in-school counseling and if people who seek out care could be steered away from guns or other tools that can inflict harm.
DFL leaders said they’re on board with putting more attention and money toward mental health and with proposals to build up security measures in schools and houses of worship.
“I also think it’s important for us to think about the difference between security and our sense of safety. Those are two different things, and we have to tend to both the kids that are going back to school, they’re not going to necessarily feel safe,” Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy said in an interview with MPR News last week. “And it doesn’t matter what we do in terms of security to restore that sense. That’s going to take some time, and we have to do both.”
Murphy is clear though: Democrats won’t stop seeking changes to Minnesota’s gun laws. She hopes public pressure could turn the tide.
“I think a majority of Minnesotans would support the ban of assault weapons and a ban on high capacity magazines. And I sometimes think it is a miscarriage of our work when a majority of people are ready for something and those elected aren’t ready to move it,” the St. Paul DFLer said. “In this case, I just want to remind all of us that we’ve got to love our kids more than the politics that are holding us back.”
In the House, Republicans have a guaranteed seat at the negotiating table. They have 67 seats to 66 for the DFL, with one to be filled in a special election in less than two weeks.
In the Senate, Democrats are in charge but not by enough to pass anything on their own given current vacancies. It takes 34 votes to pass a bill and now have 33 members, including some who have been lukewarm over prior gun bills.
Rob Doar, senior vice president of government affairs with the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, said lawmakers should focus on the things that can pass.
“Expanding mental health resources and providing resources to schools, places of worship, for threat mitigation, even if they don't think that’ll fix it, it certainly isn’t going to hurt it,” Doar said. “But I’m worried that politics are going to be the driving force, rather than identifying common ground solutions.”
Heading toward an election year, that could be a challenge.
The shooting that killed two and injured nearly two dozen other people attending a school mass at Annunciation Catholic Church has galvanized those trying for years to get tougher on guns.
Dozens of students rallied outside the Minnesota Capitol on Monday to press for a special session. They said something needs to change after a mass shooting in Minneapolis.
“We’re here to say today, to say that this should not happen no more,” said Aaliyah Murray, founder of Minnesota Teen Activists, who helped organize the rally. “And we are standing today to honor the victims with action.”
Mayors of some of Minnesota’s biggest cities added another idea to the table. They said if state lawmakers are unwilling to pass new restrictions on the statewide level, they should lift a law that preempts local governments from putting in place their own firearm restrictions.
“We have experienced, tragically, school and church shootings. We see the aftermath and how communities are broken apart by gun violence,” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey said. “We have the ability to change and so give us the authority to do it. Change the law that preempts cities from acting if you are not able to do it yourselves.”
State Rep. Paul Novotny, R-Elk River, said removing the state’s preemption law could allow for a patchwork of restrictions.
“The Second Amendment does not change depending on your zip code, and every law-abiding Minnesotan deserves the same right to protect themselves and their family no matter what city or county they are currently in,” he said in a news release. “Constitutional freedoms shall not be infringed by a county or city government, and I trust the courts would agree.”
MPR News reporters Sarah Thamer, Peter Cox and Clay Masters contributed to this report.
