A rally against gun violence Friday morning at the Minnesota state capitol building

Dozens wearing red "Moms Demand Action" t-shirts crowded into the rotunda for the rally.

"I'm asking you not to look away today," the group's Maggiy Emory said. "Understand for our community, what it means for 600 people every year not to come home.

"She told the group they must stop and think about how they would feel if they were told that a loved one had died from gun violence.

Emory asked everyone to think about being notified when a loved one was a gun violence victim.

"Now I want you to imagine those conversations happening more than 44,000 times every single year," she added. "Don't let it just be a number. Personalize it, and I'm not asking you to do this because it's easy. I'm asking you to do it because it's reality."

Emory says Minnesotans don’t have the privilege of looking away from gun violence any longer.

Meanwhile, Mike Moyski, the father of 10-year-old Harper Moyski who was killed in last year's mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in south Minneapolis, addressed the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety Friday morning.

Moyski was speaking in favor of a bill banning the possession of semiautomatic military-style assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines, particularly AR-15 which was one of the weapons used at Annunciation.

"If a weapon that someone prefers for sport is also the weapon that repeatedly shows up in the deadliest attacks in our schools and churches, then we should at least have the courage, the courage, to ask that weapon if it belongs in our civilian life," Moyski told the committee. "Because right now we're prioritizing hobbies and convenience over the lives of our children."

8-year-old Fletcher Merkel was also killed in that shooting which wounded more than two dozen others.

Moyski adds that many argue the bill wouldn't have stopped the shooting from happening, something he pushed back on.

"Public safety laws exist to reduce harm, to make tragedies less likely or less deadly when they do happen," he said. "The question is not whether a law prevents every tragedy. The real question is, would fewer people have died if we tried."