ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Senate on Monday, May 4, approved a gun control package that bans the future sale of so-called assault weapons and high capacity magazines.
For months, Democrats have advocated for an assault weapons ban since a shooter fired more than 100 rounds into Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis in August, killing two students and injuring more than two dozen others.
The bill faces an uncertain future in the Minnesota House, where Republicans and Democrats are deadlocked, and Rep. Lisa Demuth is the Republican speaker and also a leading candidate for governor. Republicans have long been resistant to passing any legislation that is seen as infringing on 2nd Amendment rights.
The gun control package, which passed the Senate 34-33, includes banning dealers from selling weapons like the AR-15 and magazines with over 17 rounds. Current owners of assault weapons and large-capacity magazines would need to certify their firearms and magazines with the state’s Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and renew their certification every three years. The package also reinstates a struck-down ban on binary triggers, which doubles a firearm’s rate of fire, and makes it a felony to sell so-called “ghost guns” or firearms without serial numbers.
Gun control advocates and parents of the children killed in the Annunciation were present in the Senate gallery and cheered when the bill passed.
Democrats in the Senate hold a one-seat majority, and all Republicans voted against the gun control package. The majority of Minnesotans in recent polling support banning “assault-style weapons,” but with an urban-rural divide; 51% of rural Minnesotans opposed an assault weapons ban, while 69% of urban residents supported a ban. The same poll found that a slight majority of rural Minnesotans also oppose bans on high-capacity magazines.
After the Annunciation shooting, Gov. Tim Walz pledged to call a special session to pass an assault weapons ban. Republicans were opposed to any gun control measures, and Walz never called a special session.
The Democratic-Farmer-Labor trifecta in 2023 passed universal background checks for firearm purchases and a “red flag” law, which allows judges to confiscate guns from people who are a danger to themselves or others. But they fell short of passing any firearm bans.
For months, at least three Democratic senators have seemed resistant to passing a firearm ban, including Sen. Grant Hauschild of Hermantown.
Hauschild revealed during the Senate floor debate Monday that his cousin’s children were in Annunciation when the shooting occurred. Hauschild represents a rural Minnesota district where gun rights are an important issue.
“It shouldn’t take a personal experience that I had in order for me to have the courage to do something, but that is the reality that I’m living,” Hauschild admitted, breaking down in tears.
Sen. Judy Seeberger, DFL-Afton, in the past has expressed criticism of banning firearms, and continued during her Senate floor speech Monday: “Calling them weapons of war is disingenuous. Making up terms like assault weapons doesn’t help us advance the real issues,” Seeberger said. “It’s frustrating to me … that people who don’t fully understand the issue try to make policy on that issue.”
And yet she voted for the legislation because “we must do something,” she said.
All 33 Senate Republicans voted against the package, arguing the bill targeted law-abiding citizens and would not have prevented the Annunciation shooting.
“We’re taking political votes instead of passing real solutions. Partisanship in an election year is blocking the progress our kids deserve,” said Sen. Julia Coleman, R-Waconia. “I am sorry that we are being asked to strip away (people’s) rights with a bill that will never clear the (House) and will not actually solve the problem.”
The package passed Monday also includes millions to bolster mental health resources in the state and increase school safety aid.
Minnesota Reformer is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Minnesota Reformer maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor J. Patrick Coolican for questions: info@minnesotareformer.com.
