ELY — With various gun control bills in the Legislature, rural communities in northern Minnesota have seen contentious meetings emerge regarding the Second Amendment.
Last week, Marshall Helmberger told KAXE an Ely representative had joined forces with a state senator from Little Falls to host a Second Amendment town hall.
Coming after the recent passage of resolutions in Itasca and Crow Wing counties, Timberjay Ely editor Catie Clark attended and reported on the event. Helmberger discussed the developments during Friday's KAXE Morning Show with Heidi Holtan.
About 50 people turned out for Saturday’s event, billed as an Iron Range Second Amendment Town Hall.
A flyer promoting the event gave lead billing to gun legislation being considered in St. Paul, but was to include discussion of the state surplus, Social Security tax cuts, and "other issues affecting our way of life on The Range."
According to the Timberjay, though Ely is Skraba's hometown, Wesenberg dominated the conversation. Skraba previously told the Timberjay he didn't know Wesenberg, but was contacted by the state senator about hosting the event.
“What universal background checks do is force every transfer to go through a government system which allows Tim Walz, Keith Ellison, Joe Biden to create a massive list of guns, gun owners where they live- and we oppose that. Government shouldn’t have lists of American citizens.”Sen. Nathan Wesenberg, R-Little Falls
Throughout, Wesenberg maintained his stance that most of the problems discussed could be fixed by a return to family values, strong moral guidance in the home, self-sufficiency, fiscal responsibility and an ethic of hard work.
He argued those with differing views are leading the country down a path to tyranny and moral inferiority. He treated Democrats as an enemy led by senior politicians like President Joe Biden, whose agenda allegedly included making lists of all gun owners for nefarious purposes.
“What universal background checks do,” Wesenberg said, “is force every transfer to go through a government system, which allows Tim Walz, Keith Ellison, Joe Biden to create a massive list of guns, gun owners where they live — and we oppose that. Government shouldn’t have lists of American citizens.”
The Timberjay fact-checked Wesenberg's information and noted federal law requires destruction of any gun-related background check data within 24 hours, unless the individual is legally prohibited from possessing a firearm.
Some audience members were clear about being at the meeting to air issues to their own elected official Skraba, not Wesenberg, who represents a district located 220 miles away from Ely.
Read the full story in the Timberjay.
