Gov. Dayton 'willing to consider anything' for school safety

MINNEAPOLIS (KMSP) - The Parkland, Florida shooting has reset the nation’s debate on school safety as well as the debate in Minnesota.

"I said I'm willing to consider anything and everything and I'm not going to rule anything out at this point," said Gov. Mark Dayton.  

Gun control groups have already rallied at the Capitol for universal background checks and gun violence protection orders, but the governor wants to focus on issues he knows he can pass and that anticipated budget surplus can support.

"And depending upon the forecast for tomorrow, but when I met for breakfast with legislative leaders, we talked about providing financial assistance to school districts to start of upgrade their security measures believing that each school district understands and each school, in fact, understands better than any of us can exactly what their needs are,” said Dayton.

Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka says the goal is to make schools hard targets.

"Do they want bullet proof glass, we want to be open to that,” said Gazelka. “Do they want to have police officers that come? We want to be open to that."

It's all a new focus after the nation's governors met with the President to consider how and who should protect the lives of students in the event of another shooting.

“I really believe I’d run in there even if I didn’t have a weapon,” said President Trump at the meeting. “And I think most of the people in this room would have done that too.”

"I hope he would,” said Dayton. “I hope I would. You never know until you reach that point in reality."

The governor said that while he would support a ban on assault-style weapons, he does not think that has any chance of passing. He emphasized he wants to put forward a safety package that will pass with no red flags.