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MN lawmakers to meet on gun violence
Minnesota leaders said there is an urgent need to address gun safety in the wake of the Annunciation tragedy and state lawmaker shootings. Gun violence prevention will be on the agenda this week for state senators who formed a bipartisan working group.
ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - Minnesota leaders said there is an urgent need to address gun safety in the wake of the Annunciation tragedy and state lawmaker shootings.
Gun violence prevention will be on the agenda this week for state senators who formed a bipartisan working group.
Defining the problem and solutions
The backstory:
A mass shooting at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis last month took the lives of two children and left many others injured. In June, the horrific shootings of two state lawmakers and their spouses killed late state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark Hortman, and injured Minnesota Sen. John Hoffman and his wife Yvette.
What we know:
The Senate Gun Violence Prevention Working Group includes members from both parties.
Co-Chairs Sen. Ron Latz (DFL-St. Louis Park) and Sen. Zaynab Mohamed (DFL-Minneapolis) announced the working group’s roster has bipartisan membership. They said the purpose of this group is to discuss proposals for a bipartisan legislative package ahead of a potential special session on the issue.
The first two meetings for this working group are set for this week on Sept. 15 and 17.
A rainbow was over the Minnesota Senate building on Monday, hours before a working group was meeting to discuss addressing gun violence in the wake of the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School.
What they're saying:
"We want to thank the members below for their commitment to earnest discussion on how the Senate moves forward in addressing and preventing gun violence in Minnesota," said co-chairs Sen. Latz and Sen. Mohamed. "These upcoming public meetings and the work of this group are an important step forward in our response to the tragedy that occurred at Annunciation and we look forward to this important and urgent conversation."
"Minnesotans expect action that meets the moment to prevent any tragedy like this from ever happening again in any of our communities. This working group is an important part of that process, but we are fully committed to moving forward with serious proposals that will keep our children and communities safe."
The other side:
Sen. Eric Lucero (GOP-Saint Michael) sent Fox 9 this statement on the matter.
"Senate Republicans are united in supporting safe schools, safe communities, and real solutions, not slogans. We back tougher penalties for violent repeat offenders, stronger school safety measures, including SROs to identify, respond, and de-escalate threats, and expanded access to mental health resources to stop tragedies before they happen."
Big picture view:
A political science professor said advancing gun control legislation with the bipartisan support needed in the Minnesota Legislature will be tough.
"Even though I think everybody agrees that we don’t want school shootings and we’d like less violence. I think both the nature of how the problem is being defined, as well as what the solution is, they’re very, very far apart on. If you talk to Democrats for example, they’re going to say the issue is guns, it is assault rifles, or something like that. You talk to Republicans, they’re going to say it’s mental illness," said David Schultz, Political Science professor, Hamline University.
"There’s not even an agreement on the basic definition of the problem there is. And if you can’t agree on the problem, you certainly can’t agree on the solution."