Violent crime and gun violence is a topic brought up in nearly every political race across Minnesota.
According to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), violent crime increase 21.6 percent in 2021. Greater Minnesota saw a 16 percent increase in violent crime, while violent crime rose 23.9 percent in the seven-county metro area, including Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott, and Washington counties.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Dr. Scott Jensen’s placed the rise in crime solely on the shoulders of Governor Tim Walz and his response to the riots that followed the killing of George Floyd in May 2020.
“He unleashed, if you will, a poisonous spread of lawlessness,” Dr. Jensen said in a debate. “Arguably, he is the godfather of crime epidemic that’s spread across the country.”
Murder rates rose in 2021 to 201, up from 185 the year before.
According to the BCA, guns were used in 73 percent (147) of the 2021 murders compared to 75 percent (139) of the murders reported statewide in 2020.
“These shootings are not happening because lawful people aren’t following the law,” Jensen said. “These shootings are happening because lawbreakers are going to get the guns.”
Throughout his campaign, Governor Tim Walz has pointed out how easily accessible guns are for people wanting to commit a crime.
“A shooting at the Seventh Street Truck Park in St. Paul, the person who ended up with two of the guns there got them through a straw buyer who bought 90 of them, in the month prior,” Walz said.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced in early October that his office filed a lawsuit against multiple Fleet Farm locations for “aiding and abetting” gun trafficking in Minnesota.
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The lawsuit alleges Fleet Farm sold guns to Jerome Horton, Jr. a suspected straw-purchaser and mentions specific guns used in the October 2021 mass shooting at the Truck Park bar in St. Paul.
Ellison noted the retail chain ignored obvious straw buying red flags.
“Things like multiple purchases of similar handguns, especially 9 millimeter buying sprees,” Ellison said. “And they ignored staggered visits by straw purchasers to different Fleet Farm locations to elude multiple sale reportings.”
In September a federal judge sentenced Sarah Elwood to a year and a half in prison after helping straw purchase close to 100 guns.
Two others were sentenced to longer prison sentences for their roles in the scheme.
Republican AG candidate Jim Schultz has criticized Ellison over the lawsuit.
“It is not enough for the Attorney General of Minnesota to throw-up his hands and say in October of election year, ‘Well I think I’m going to after Fleet Farm,’” Schultz said. “That is not enough and the fact Ellison cites that as an instance of you leading on public safety, is a complete and total embarrassment.”
The two faces vying to become the next Hennepin County sheriff say they envision solutions to address the ongoing crime and gun violence.
Major Dawanna Witt believes already-implemented programs in the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office are part of the solution.
“The Violent Offender Task Force is focused on the people who are using these guns to harm and scare people in our community,” Witt told WCCO Radio. “That has to be proactive. You hear about a lot of initiatives going ono right to curb gun violence, which is great. But we need to make sure this is an ongoing process. It can’t just be hit or miss where we focus on it one week and focus on it another week in another month.”
Joseph Banks, a former police chief now looking to become the Hennepin County sheriff, believes the community plays a critical role in addressing gun violence.
“The goal is to work with the community because the community has really good idea where these guns are, who has them, and where they are coming from,” Banks said. “It’s definitely going to be a collaborative effort between law enforcement and community to solve this issue. We have to find out where these guns are coming from and we have to find ways to make the community comfortable to tell us where these guns are.”