Following the tragic and deadly shooting at Annunciation Church and School in south Minneapolis this week, it appears that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is attempting to put together a special session in the Minnesota Legislature to tackle stronger gun laws.
Reports say he is looking at next month for calling it and a senior administration official says Walz has been making calls to legislators.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, some members of the legislature, and gun control advocates gathered at Minneapolis City Hall on Thursday calling for a ban on assault-style weapons and stronger gun laws, both in Minnesota and nationally.
Already, House Republican Floor Leader Harry Niska is pushing back and calling it a "stunt."
"If this were serious and not a partisan stunt, he would be calling Republicans, starting with the Speaker of the House," Niska said on social media Friday afternoon. "But, in fact, it’s just a partisan stunt."
Earlier in the day, Walz posted a short message on social media himself, saying, "It’s time to take serious action at the State Capitol to address gun violence."
Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy (DFL) told WCCO's Jason DeRusha on Thursday that the country needs to reinstate a ban on assault weapons, and thinks the both federally and at the state level, it should be reconsidered.
"I have long argued for a return to a prohibition on assault weapons and on high capacity magazines," Murphy said. "It's one of the first issues I worked on before I was ever elected. As a nurse and someone interested in public policy, and when we had that at the federal level, violence did go down. And when it expired, gun violence did go up. So I do think that it is something we ought to consider."
The Federal Assault Weapons Ban was a 1994 law that prohibited the manufacture, sale, and possession of certain semi-automatic firearms and high-capacity magazines for civilian use, but it expired in 2004 due to a sunset provision.
While the ban was in effect, there is evidence it reduced fatalities and injuries in mass shootings. However, there have been multiple failed attempts to renew the ban.
Murphy says there is evidence you can slow down mass shootings with limiting access to those types of weapons, and it also includes tackling mental health issues.
"I think it is important for us to talk about, there's the issue of guns and access to guns and what we could do to make it harder for people who shouldn't have their hands on them, to not have them," says Murphy. "I do think it is right for us to also think about the mental well-being of people."
Any bill would require bipartisan support in the Minnesota House which is controlled by Democrats right now, but is expected to return to a tie after a special election in September to fill the seat of the late House Speaker Melissa Hortman.