Minnesota Democrats hold first of a series of town hall meetings on gun violence

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

Gov. Tim Walz was joined by former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, an Arizona Democrat who survived an assassination attempt in 2011 and has since worked to reduce gun violence. A teacher from Minnesota and two doctors 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 psychological damage caused by shooting children at the school.

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

Rada added: “We must do everything to protect our children, tighten laws. Make mental health care more accessible, and enforce warning laws. One law will not be enough, but doing nothing is unforgivable.”

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

While Walz has talked about calling a special session of the Minnesota Legislature to address these issues, efforts appear to have stalled. While the leaders have not ruled out holding such a special session, these efforts have been hampered by the reality of weak political margins in the legislature and a lack of agreement on which bills should be discussed and voted on.

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

“We simply have to, as citizens of Minnesota, make it clear that you’re not going to do what you’ve done everywhere else,” Walz said Saturday. “And hopefully we’ll forget about this and we’ll procrastinate and procrastinate to the point where we don’t even have this conversation. And I’ll tell you all… we’ll put it on the ballot. You can vote for a constitutional amendment on this, and then let the people vote for it. And that’s how it gets done.”

Walz urged the crowd of about 850 people at Waconia High School to keep up the pressure on lawmakers.

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

In a statement, Alex Plechas said that the governor must convince his party to support his proposals.

“For two years, Democrats had complete control of St. Paul and did nothing,” Plecchas, the GOP chairman, said in the statement. “Instead of ruling, they recycled slogans and photographs.”

Bundesliga leaders have announced they will hold several town halls, including one in Rochester early next month.