Minneapolis (AP) – When Minnesota mourned in a mass shooting in a church in which two school children and 21 people were injured, Governor Tim Walz promised to call a special session for the legislator in order to hand over solutions for weapons and school safety.
But a month after the shootings on August 27, which took place at the Catholic School in Minneapolis during the first mass of the academic year, the conversations seem to have stalled.
Despite passionate requests from the pediatricians, parents of victims and Pope Leo XIV, the probability seems to be remote that the legislator could agree enough to justify a special session.
The strenuous political reality
The democratic governor has a strenuous political reality: the legislature of Minnesota is too shared to say goodbye to something without cross -party support.
While there is support for weapon restrictions between urban and suburban Democrats, the opposition between rural and suburban Republicans exists against a violation of the second change in change, to keep and bear weapons. The few rural Democrats are in a tough position when weapon problems arise, as they did in 2023 when the Democrats used their momentary full control to pass the first weapons limits for years.
Mass shootings usually lead to demanding more arms laws
Several democratic states have tried to limit access to firearms according to previous mass shootings. Connecticut issued some of the country’s strongest weapons laws after shooting Sandy Hook Elementary 2012, including a ban on attack weapons.
But these calls usually fail in Republican states where supporters say for weapons rights that violent people are the root problem. The efforts to tighten the gun laws in Texas gained little traction after shooting in Robb Elementary in Uvalde after shooting in 2022.
The Republican governor of Tennessee, Bill Lee, was unable to persuade his mighty GOP legislation to approve a law on the red flag after the shots of 2023 in a school in Nashville. But Lee signed laws in 2024 with which teachers and employees were able to carry hidden handguns on the school premises.
Uvalde was an significant impetus for a comprehensive federal weapon bill that President Joe Biden signed in 2022, even though it focuses on people and not on weapons.
The consequences of shootings in Minnesota
The shootings in the Church of Annunciation followed the murder of the democratic leader of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband the best house, and the shootings of a democratic state and his wife, which survived. These recent attacks have made the topic for Walz and many of its person with Democrats personally.
Shortly after the shootings of the church, Walz made bans for weapons of attacks and magazines with a high capacity to his top priorities for a special meeting. He repeated this when he started his re -election campaign last week. However, meetings with legislative leaders and two recent hearings have not produced the necessary consensus.
Parents of the wounded children told the senators at a hearing that a ban on attack weapons might have prevented the tragedy and nothing to do was not an option.
“There will be no doubt that there will be another mass shooting and more children will die. If you believe that your community and someone you love will not meet again. It is due to our legislators.
But Walz said reporters on Tuesday that the Republicans want to talk about everything except weapons.
“I said of a Republican leadership that there would never be a vote on weapons – there would be no vote on a weapon ban,” he said. “And that’s not acceptable.”
The governor admitted that the house between Republicans and Democrats 67-67 is bound with 67-67, and that the narrow democratic majority of the close Senate lacks the 34 votes that are necessary to say goodbye.
Special elections for two open seats in November are to restore the Senate with a democratic majority of 34-33 in full strength. But even then the majority leader of the Senate, Erin Murphy, admitted that GOP support would be required.
“If the governor calls a special session, we will work on making the best possible calculation and our members will decide by voting their conscience and for the districts they represent,” said Murphy in an explanation on Thursday. “But no law can say goodbye to the house or the Senate without GOP voices, and Minnesotaners need republicans to commit themselves to serious solutions.”
The Republican spokesman for the Republican House, Lisa Demuth, from the Cold Spring, denied the governor’s arms bill, and she found that democratic leaders were missing the voices to say goodbye to their own ban.
“I did not say that there would never be a vote – but you need a draft law to coordinate, and the governor has not given any language or details about what he banned, apart from vague,” said Demuth in an explanation.
Consensus remains tough to grasp
The divisions were exhibited last week when the senators stopped hearing to see if the pages could reach a consensus. You couldn’t.
“I think these solutions, ultimately they have to be non -partisan,” said democratic Senator Ron Latz, who called the hearings. He claimed that there were Republicans whose districts could support a ban on attack weapons and deliver the necessary votes – if they wish.
Republicans said reporters that law -like citizens have the right to have weapons to defend their families, and to determine that facilitate can be far away in rural areas. They said the focus should instead be practical ideas that could actually receive non -partisan support, such as: B. more mental health services.
“New weapons laws are bound in court and have no effects and are probably unconstitutional. We have seen numerous jurisdiction all over the country, with courts hailing them,” said GOP Senator Eric Lucero.
Latz countered that fear that a ban on attack weapons declared unconstitutional or are concerned about implementation are not an excuse for not trying.
“The vast majority of people in Minnesota want us to do something,” said Walz this week. “We should be able to get together and do it.”
