Minnesota Governor Tim Walz opened up in a wide-ranging, one-on-one interview at the Texas Tribune Festival.
He talked about what could have been done better on the presidential campaign trail, where he was the Democratic nominee for vice president, as well as his push for a ban on assault-style weapons following this summer's assassination of Melissa Hortman and the Annunciation mass shooting.
Walz originally proposed a special session on the issue, but it did not gain enough traction among lawmakers.
"We don't have to live like this. We are choosing to live like this when every other nation in the world does not choose to live like this," Walz said. "They do not have to worry about sending their kids to school. We do not have to terrorize kids with active shooter drills."
Gov. Walz goes so far to say it's a topic important enough to him to lose an election if Minnesotans - or how American voters chose in 2024- decide it isn't worth pursuing.
"There are things that we know we can do and I'm at this point right now, I'm fine to lose an election over this one because I'm gonna fight this thing to the end," explained the governor.
Walz has been holding town halls around the state on the topic of guns, trying to keep pressure on lawmakers to come together on gun law reform.
He is running for what would be an unprecedented third consecutive term in Minnesota. He faces competition on the Republican side from a number of candidates, including 2022 opponent Dr. Scott Jensen, the Republican Speaker of the House Lisa Demuth and Maple Grover Rep. Kristin Robbins.