Governor Proposes October 6th Special Session on Gun Control, School Safety; Republicans Push Back

(KNSI) — Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and DFL legislative leaders extended a proposal Tuesday for a special session starting October 6th, focused on addressing gun-related violence and enhancing school safety.

The plan is described as a comprehensive approach, including specific actions regarding gun laws; strengthening Extreme Risk Protection Orders, also known as the Red Flag Law; banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, binary triggers; and eliminating the ghost gun loophole. It would also increase funding for the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension’s Behavioral Threat Assessment and Management Team, increase penalties for certain crimes, expand school safety funding, and increase funding for mental health treatment, something Republicans had also specifically asked for in their submitted plan, though they want it handled separately from gun control legislation.

Governor Walz and other DFL representatives emphasize their commitment to enacting common-sense gun laws while also addressing related issues like school security and mental health support.

Republican House Speaker Representative Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring and Floor Leader Harry Niska (R-Ramsey) say they sent a fair offer for a framework for a special session, which the governor rejected.

Demuth says before the last GOP meeting with Walz, she proposed that the legislature work through the committee process to consider bills. “Trying to force agreement to an unwritten bill that has never been seen in committee is not how we govern.”

The two sides have yet to come to an agreement, but negotiations are ongoing.

Walz’s renewed call for gun control comes after two high profile shootings. House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were gunned down in their Brooklyn Park home on June 14th. State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot a combined 17 times in the same attack. Both of them survived. August 27th, a gunman opened fire on Annunciation Catholic Church just as a mass was starting to mark the beginning of a new school year. Two students were killed. Nineteen other people, most of them children, were injured.

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