Minnesota Democrats hold the first of a series of town halls on gun violence

The Minnesota DFL held the first of what will be a series of town halls on gun violence Saturday in Waconia.

Gov. Tim Walz was joined by former U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords, a Democrat from Arizona, who survived an assassination attempt in 2011, and has since worked to reduce gun violence. A Minnesota teacher and two physicians also joined the discussion.

Before that group answered questions on stage, the mother of a student at Annunciation Catholic Church and School, where a mass shooting killed two children and injured 30 others, spoke about the physical and emotional damage the shooting had on children in the school.

“I understand that guns are a part of American life, and the right to own them is constitutionally protected, but the cost of these particular weapons is simply too high,” said Tess Rada, who has a third grader at the school.

Added Rada, “We must do everything to protect our kids, tighten laws. Make mental health care more accessible, enforce red flag laws. No single law will be enough, but doing nothing is unforgivable.”

The town hall is part of an effort to keep the conversation about guns in the public view. After the shooting at Annunciation this summer, Walz has been pushing for changes that would ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, among other things.

Gov. Tim Walz (seated, center) is joined by a panel of physicians, teachers and advocates against gun violence, including former Arizona Congresswoman Gabby Giffords (second from the right). This was the first of a series of town halls Minnesota's Democratic leaders are holding to keep up pressure on making changes to gun laws they say could reduce mass shootings.

Peter Cox

While Walz talked about calling a special session for the Minnesota Legislature to address these issues, the effort seems to have stalled. While leaders have not ruled out such a special session, the push has been hampered by the reality of thin political margins in the Legislature and a lack of agreement on what bills should be debated and voted on.

But Walz has also faced increased pressure to act from advocates who want more gun restrictions.

“We simply, as Minnesotans, have to make the case that you are not going to do what you did every other place,” Walz said Saturday. “And hope we forget and drag this out and stall to the point where don’t allow us to have this conversation. And I will tell all of you … We’ll put it on the ballot. You can vote for a constitutional amendment on this, then let the people vote for it. So it gets done.”

Walz urged the crowd of around 850 people at Waconia High School to keep pressure on legislators.

The head of the Republican Party of Minnesota called the town hall a “campaign rally, not a town hall.”

Alex Plechash, in a statement, also said the governor should be convincing his own party to support his proposals.

“For two years, Democrats had total control in St. Paul and did nothing,” Plechash, the chairman of the GOP said in the statement. “Instead of governing, they recycled slogans and photo ops.”

DFL leaders announced they’ll be doing several more town halls, including one in Rochester early next month.