As negotiations stall, Walz says special session on guns may be a "waste of time" without a deal in divided Legislature
Gov. Tim Walz and legislative leaders in a politically divided capitol are at a stalemate over the terms of a special session in response to the Annunciation Church shooting that killed two children and injured more than two dozen others six weeks ago.
But the governor on Wednesday suggested that if there isn't a breakthrough in those negotiations, calling lawmakers back to St. Paul would not be worth it, which marks a shift from his previous position.
"I need to get an agreement on this," Walz told reporters. "If we're going to hold a special session on safety of our children and safety of our streets and safety on gun violence, we need to talk about guns. And if the folks who hold veto power over this — which they do because of the makeup of the Legislature — if they say that's not going to happen, calling a special session is going to be a waste of money and a waste of time."
Walz last month said he would call a special session "one way or another" after the shooting, with or without Republican support for certain measures ahead of time. He alone has the power to do that.
He has met with DFL and GOP leaders in both chambers several times over the last several months to set parameters about what the work in a special session would look like, as is common practice, but neither side has found common ground.
His comments come as authorities say the number of victims injured from the Annunciation shooting increased from previous totals. Minneapolis police said the number of people hurt that day was 30, including 10-year-old Harper Moyski and 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel who died. Initially investigators said that only 21 others were injured by gunfire.
A police spokesperson explained that many of the additional victims had wounds from bullet fragments that weren't discovered until later.
Walz and DFL leaders want a vote on an assault weapons and high-capacity magazines ban among other proposals. Last week they suggested in an offer to their GOP colleagues the special session start on Monday, but the governor never formally called it.
Meanwhile, Republicans' offers in return do not list specific policies but instead want the special session to focus on the topics of school safety, public safety and mental health. None of their proposals so far have mentioned guns specifically.
"This is not going away," Walz said, when asked if there comes a time when a special session is too late, since the 2026 session is slated to begin in February. "The question then becomes, does it make sense, if you get further into that, do you bring this up in February. I hope we get a resolution before then. I think we owe it to the people of Minnesota to have a resolution before then. But it's a valid point."
It's also unclear if there are the votes on either side for any gun measures at this time. Some additional gun rules failed to get the necessary support to pass the state Senate when the Democrats had control of both chambers and governor's office in 2023 and 2024.
Now the House is tied and the DFL-led Senate is down one vote due to a vacancy.
"Even when Democrats had the majority, they didn't even bother having committee hearings on those bills," said Rep. Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, the Republican floor leader in the House, during a news conference last week.
Pressure continues to mount for a special session. On Wednesday, faith leaders delivered a letter to Walz with the signatures of 700 clergy members all across the state asking for the special session and to pass an assault weapons ban.
Some of them were joined by other members of the community on the steps of the Capitol for the first day of their "Seven Days of Prayer and Action" campaign calling for a change. They will have the prayer service every day until next Tuesday.
Among those in attendance was Mike Haasl of Brooklyn Park. He said he understood from a pragmatic point of view why calling a special session may be "foolish" if the votes aren't there to pass any meaningful policies, but he argued it may be worth a try.
"Unless people of faith and people around the state stand up and say this is wrong and we're going to do what we can do, and even if it's not [going to pass], we're going to keep trying and trying and trying. I think it's the right thing," Haasl said.
The governor and legislative leaders haven't met in a week and there isn't anything scheduled.