Twin Cities mayors call for changes to state gun laws after Annunciation shooting
Mayors from the Twin Cities area are calling for lawmakers address gun violence in the state and change a law that prohibits cities from passing their own gun reforms.
The call to action comes less than a week after the mass shooting at a Minneapolis church that killed two children and injured 21 others.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter were joined by the mayors of Bloomington, Stillwater, Vadnais Heights, Minnetonka, Hopkins, Richfield and Columbia Heights. During the press conference Tuesday afternoon, they were also backed by the advocacy group Moms Demand Action.
"We don't want to be the next mayor to say 'this should never happen in our city,'" Frey said. "The answers, the solutions, they're not new. They're very clear."
The group pushed for a statewide and federal ban on assault weapons as well as a ban on high-capacity magazines.
The paraphernalia was "built and designed to kill people. Not built and designed to hunt deer," Frey said, adding that "there is no reason to have this kind of machinery in our cities."
The mayors also asked for state and federal officials to change a law that prohibits virtually any kind of gun reform in municipalities.
"If state and federal officials are either unwilling or unable to make the necessary change, give us, as mayors of these cities, the ability to do it ourselves," Frey said.
Gov. Tim Walz confirmed Tuesday that he is talking to legislators about a potential special session to address gun violence. It would bring lawmakers back to the Capitol earlier than the start of the regular session in February.
Walz said he plans to put out a proposal "in the next day or so that I think is very comprehensive, it's been done in other places, it's been done without infringements on people's Second Amendment rights, but it has proven that it will help protect our students."
The Minnesota Gun Owner's Caucus blasted the notion of different gun laws in different communities, saying "someone carrying legally under a state permit could unknowingly violate a patchwork of local ordinances just driving to work. It's unreasonable to expect every citizen to study the local codes of every town."