ST. PAUL — Democrats at the Minnesota Capitol started a push in the second week of the legislative session to prevent gun violence, but Republicans pushed back, saying the laws would infringe on the rights of lawful gun owners and not deter criminals.
The DFL push was backed by parents and students from Annunciation Catholic School, where two students were killed and dozens were injured last August when a shooter peppered the church with more than 100 bullets over the course of about two minutes.
On Tuesday, Feb. 24, Gov. Tim Walz announced a 15-point package that includes a ban on assault-style weapons, high-capacity magazines and additional school safety measures.
That morning, parents with Annunciation Light Alliance set up 60 empty desks on the Capitol's front lawn, representing Minnesota children killed by gun violence since 2021. The alliance was formed in the wake of the Annunciation shooting.
Lydia Kaiser, an eighth grader who was shot in the head as she shielded a younger student during the shooting, spoke alongside Walz.
“All children have the right to live free from gun violence in schools, churches and in our communities,” Kaiser said. “Elected officials have a duty to protect us from guns.”
Hours later, bills that would ban assault-style weapons and large capacity magazines failed on a party-line tie vote in the House Public Safety Committee.
On Wednesday, the desks of the two students killed in the Annunciation shooting, 10-year-old Harper Moyski and 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel, sat outside the Capitol committee room, where a group of seven students presented a gun safety bill they co-wrote.
The bill would require guns left in vehicles on school property to be unloaded, stored in a locked container and placed in a trunk or out of plain sight. The storage requirements would extend to any Minnesota State High School League-sanctioned event, even if not on school property.
Current law requires guns left in cars unattended to be stored securely, such as in the trunk, but it is more ambiguous about what qualifies as secure.
The students, six of whom are in high school, said current gun storage laws leave room for theft and put students at risk. Hennepin County Sheriff Dawanna Witt testified in support of the bill and said her agency recovered hundreds of stolen firearms in 2025.
“This bill can save lives,” Witt said. “The wrong answer is to do nothing.”
The bill would also remove principals' authority to grant the right to carry a gun on campus, excluding student resource officers or off-duty officers. Principals and superintendents from across the state submitted letters of support for the bill.
Nicole Hockley, whose 6-year-old son Dylan Hockley was murdered during the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, gave a presentation to the committee. Since 1999, there have been 428 school shootings, impacting roughly 394,000 students, Hockley said.
Rep. Tom Dippel, R-Cottage Grove, said non-public schools without funds for resource officers would not have a way to protect themselves. Rep. Patricia Mueller, R-Austin, said she wants to continue discussions and clarify aspects of the bill.
Republican members of the House Education Policy Committee voted against the DFL-authored bill, and like the other bills, it failed on a tie vote.
Aditi Jha, an 11th-grade Edina student who helped to write and present the bill, said it is wrong that school shootings have become casual conversation among students.
“I don't want to feel the need to survey my classrooms to establish where and how I can get myself to safety if the worst were to happen,” she said.
Report for Minnesota is a project of the University of Minnesota’s Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication to support local news across the state.
