Never one to let a tragedy go to waste, beta male Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the failed vice presidential candidate in 2024, is making plans to call a special legislative session in an attempt to enact more restrictive gun control laws following last week’s Annunciation Catholic School shooting.
The attack by a young trans man, who stood outside the church during mass and fired into the windows, resulted in two children dead and 17 others wounded.
Walz told reporters on September 2 that he’ll be making calls to lawmakers and working on a plan over the next couple of days. Walz said he intends to propose a “very comprehensive” package that could include a ban on so-called “assault weapons.”
Blaming a shooting on guns isn’t anything new to Walz—or to many Democrats. Neither is trying to shame Republicans for not wanting to infringe on the Second Amendment rights of their constituents.
“To be very candid, just in a very evenly divided (Legislature), I’m going to need some Republicans to break with the orthodoxy and say that we need to do something on guns,” pbs.com quoted Walz as saying. “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.
Along with banning common semi-automatic firearms, many in the state are actually calling for the repeal of the state’s firearms preemption law. In fact, the mayors of Minneapolis, St. Paul and Bloomington are calling on the Legislature to change that 1985 state law, which prevents cities from enacting their own gun restrictions so they can pass their own gun bans.
Fortunately for Minnesota gun owners, some Republicans in the state legislature have their back and are not planning to support any more gun restrictions anytime soon.
“As disappointing as it is that the governor is doing this in such an overtly political way, House Republicans stand ready to protect students and schools,” Rep. Lisa Demuth, Republican House speaker, said in a statement.
Demuth added that her GOP associates might be open to expanding school security funding to include private schools, and providing more money for mental health resources, “instead of vague demands for policies that have not stopped gun violence in other states.”
Minnesota already has a so-called “red-flag” law, but the murderer hadn’t been flagged in any way prior to the attack. Reports also indicate that the killer bought his firearms—a rifle, shotgun and pistol—legally and underwent a federal background check when doing so.
Ultimately, Walz’s call for a special session to address gun control is a cross between a knee-jerk reaction and a blame gun, with guns being the enemy. Whether or not Democrats manage to pass any further laws in the wake of the attack, of course, remains to be seen.
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