The Minnesota state Senate has approved a sweeping violence prevention bill taken up after a violent year that saw the shooting deaths of two Minneapolis schoolchildren and the assassination of House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman and her husband.
The wide-ranging bill includes a ban on assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, expanded requirements for the safe storage of firearms, and more funding for school security and mental health care.
“Today is really, really historic,” said Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, a long-time advocate of gun control legislation at the Capitol. “It stands on the work of the legislators that came before us.”
The bill cleared the Democrat-controlled Senate by a single vote, 34 to 33, with all Democrats voting for the bill and all Republicans voting against. It also marks a rare bright spot for DFL Gov. Tim Walz, who threw his energy into violence prevention efforts after the shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in August, only to see Republicans rebuff him and his influence wane in his administration’s final year.
Republicans will also almost certainly block the measure’s most controversial provisions in the tied House, where they control the speaker’s gavel. Even attempts to address less contentious policy points, like school security and mental health care, have stalled in the House.
“I’m very excited today that there’s some really good work being done around gun safety,” Walz told reporters this morning before the vote. “But I’m also a realist.”
A spokeswoman for GOP House Speaker Lisa Demuth did not immediately provide comment on the Senate bill’s passage. Demuth has previously expressed skepticism about the gun control measures pushed by Democrats.
“This is not going to bring these kids back and that’s all these families want,” she told the Minnesota Star Tribune last month.
So why don’t the people who DO know about guns chime in?
All I ever see in these discussions is people talking shit about legislation and why it’s targeting the wrong things. So what should it target? Because I’m sick of mass casualty shootings. Fucking help if you know so much.
I know about guns.
What the US needs is accessible, affordable, quality healthcare including mental healthcare first. Full stop.
Additional financial support should go to remove the stresses of modern life, such as increases in minimum wages and affordable housing.
I will take it a step further. Full funding for this healthcare should come from those who are currently bleeding the US: all of the corporations and billionaires that are currently syphoning the wealth away from the people should pay for the privelege of doing business in the US. They need to be taxed appropriately.
Beyond healthcare (including mental healthcare), other remaining taxed funds can be used to support our crumbling infrastructure and our core support personnel: teachers, healthcare professionals, fire fighters, and (yes) police. However, those dollars shouldnt go freely: no more blanket immunity - erradicate the thin blue line bullshit. If you fuck up as a cop, you should be held to a higher standard.
Fix the mental and physical health of the people. Tax the ridiculously wealthy Restore the middle class
Watch your violent crime rates plummet. THEN start talking about moderate, responsible gun ownership. At least then your population will be more healthy, more well-adjusted, and better primed to have the conversation. You wont get them to the table until you fix their sickness.