Minnesota Democrats call for ban on assault weapons following deadly church shooting

ST. PAUL, Minn. (Minnesota Reformer) — Federal, state and city Democratic lawmakers joined gun safety advocates to call for a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines on Thursday, a day after a shooter killed two children and injured 17 others during morning Mass at a Catholic school in south Minneapolis in one of the worst mass shootings in Minnesota’s history.

The shooting at Annunciation Church and school set off a morbidly familiar routine in the United States, where firearms are the leading cause of death for children and teens: candle light vigils, thoughts and prayers from politicians and partisan deadlock over how to prevent the next massacre.

“Thoughts and prayers are not going to cut it,” said Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey at a news conference in City Hall flanked by more than two dozen lawmakers and scores of supporters. “We need action at the federal level. We need action at the state level. We need coordination with the cities around the country.”

Law enforcement said the shooter used three legally purchased firearms to carry out the attack — a shotgun, a handgun and a semiautomatic rifle. In a now-deleted YouTube video, a person police believe to be the shooter shows a handwritten notebook entry saying it was “shockingly easy” to obtain a firearm at a pawnshop, according to the Star Tribune.

The shooter fired more than 100 rounds into the church from the outside while children and parishioners ducked for cover under church pews.

“A 10-year-old boy had more courage hiding in a church pew while his friend shielded him with his body than I have seen from far too many lawmakers more beholden to a gun lobby than a child,” said Angela Ferrell-Zabala, executive director of the national gun safety advocacy group Moms Demand Action.

The injured included 15 children ranging in age from 6 to 15 and three parishioners in their 80s. As of Wednesday evening, one adult and five children were in critical condition at Hennepin Healthcare with four other victims receiving treatment for non-life threatening injuries. Three children were still being treated at Children’s Minnesota as of Thursday morning with four victims discharged.

Minnesota Republican House Floor Leader Harry Niska criticized Democrats for diminishing the power of prayer in their calls for action.

“Some people have said thoughts and prayers aren’t enough. Well I believe in the power of prayer. Prayer is such an important part of what we start with,” Niska said in a video posted to X. 

Niska voted against the state’s red flag law and background check requirement for private gun sales.

Gun violence has come shockingly close to the lawmakers tasked with whether or how to regulate it. Earlier this summer, a gunman killed Democratic House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband and wounded Sen. John Hoffman, DFL-Champlin, and his wife in a politically motivated attack.

Assault rifles and high capacity magazines were banned in the United States from 1994 until 2004, when the ban expired after Congress chose not to renew it. Available research, while limited, shows there is evidence that bans on assault weapons and high capacity magazines decrease mass shootings like the one at Annunciation Church. Former President Joe Biden urged Congress to renew the ban, but was unsuccessful.

“This is not a big issue for us to solve, like curing cancer or AIDS,” said U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar. “This is something that is simple — a simple ban to make sure people who should not have access to these weapons do not get them.”

State legislators vowed to introduce a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines, though the chances of such a bill passing in a divided Legislature seem dim.

Democrats had control of the Legislature for two years and failed to pass a statewide ban. Democratic House Floor Leader Jamie Long of Minneapolis said he had the bill drafted but didn’t introduce it because he didn’t think they were ready.

“We’re ready now,” Long said. “It shouldn’t have taken tragedy coming to Minnesota to be ready.”

Democrats did pass a slate of gun control laws when they held power in 2023 and 2024. They instituted an extreme risk protection order, or “red flag,” law that allows family members or police to ask judges to take guns from people deemed a danger to themselves or others.

They also passed universal background check requirements on private gun sales as well as increased penalties for possession of converted machine guns and “straw purchases” when people buy guns for someone not legally allowed to possess them.

One gun safety measure — a ban on binary triggers which increase the rate of fire of semiautomatic weapons  — was recently struck down by a judge because it passed in a monster, 1,400-page bill that violated the state Constitution’s requirement that laws are confined to a single subject.

“We cannot become numb to this… There is more we can do,” said Rep. Emma Greenman, DFL-Minneapolis, who represents Annunciation Church. “Everyday people need to be safe doing everyday things.”

(Story written by Max Nesterak – Minnesota Reformer)