MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A shooting at a Catholic church full of schoolchildren in Minnesota has prompted calls for gun safety legislation. But translating action into policy may be difficult in a state that mirrors the nation’s partisan divisions and split opinions on how best to prevent mass shootings.
A day after the deadly shootings, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Thursday called for a statewide and federal ban on certain semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity magazines. If others don’t act, Frey suggested, the city may act on its own.
“I think we’d be happy to ban assault rifles here in Minneapolis,” Frey said. “I know we’d be happy to prevent a next mass shooting from taking place.”
Authorities declined to specify Thursday whether the high-powered rifle used in the shootings was a semiautomatic that would count as an assault weapon. But Police Chief Brian O’Hara told reporters that the 5.56 mm rifle fired 116 rounds in less than four minutes.
While Minnesota is often perceived as a Democratic state, since it usually supports Democratic presidents, the reality is the state usually has some form of divided government. That remains the case now. Democratic Gov. Tim Walz had to work this year with a state House split evenly between Democrats and Republicans and a Senate where Democrats held just a one-seat advantage.
Passing anything — whether that’s a budget, gun regulations or school safety plans — required at least some bit of bipartisan consensus.
“We have one half of the Legislature that doesn’t believe that gun control is the answer to this – that there are other policy imperatives,” said Bryan Strawser, chairman of Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus. “We have another side of the Legislature that goes right to gun control.”
“I don’t think one incident changes that calculus,” he said.
Minnesota already has various gun regulations
Wednesday’s shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, where children were beginning their day in worship, left two children dead and 18 people injured. Police said the shooter — 23-year-old Robin Westman — used a rifle, shotgun and pistol that had been legally purchased.
Minnesota law requires a permit to purchase certain semiautomatic rifles and pistols. Police chiefs and sheriffs can deny permits to people determined to be a danger to themselves or the public when possessing firearms.
Another Minnesota law, which took effect in 2024, lets courts grant “ extreme risk protection orders ” to temporarily take guns from people deemed an imminent threat to others or themselves. It’s known as a “red flag” law. Lawmakers recently also tightened the state’s background check requirements.
But none of those laws prevented Westman from legally obtaining guns.
“The failure to act here is the reason we are once again mourning dozens killed and injured in a school and a house of worship,” said Nick Suplina, senior vice president for law and policy at Everytown for Gun Safety. “It is time for Minnesota to regulate assault weapons.”
A new impetus?
Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Ron Latz, the Democrat who has long championed gun safety legislation, said in a statement that he will push for an extensive list of proposals in 2026, including bans on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines.
Democratic Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy was noncommittal at a news conference about the prospects for passing new gun restrictions.
“We’ll see where it goes,” Murphy said. “But I think Minnesotans are clear with us. They are in favor of a ban on assault weapons, and they’re in favor of a ban on high capacity magazines. And it’s time for us to love our children most and do our work.”
House Democratic Floor Leader Jamie Long said he regrets that they didn’t push harder for more gun safety legislation in 2024 when Democrats still had full control.
“It shouldn’t have taken tragedy coming to Minnesota to be ready,” he said. “We should have been ready to act then. But we are ready to act now.”
The family of the former top Democrat in the House, Melissa Hortman, and her husband, who were killed in June by a gunman posing as a police officer, said Thursday it’s time for action.
“Mark and Melissa believed that children should be able to gather in schools safely, that communities should be able to worship in peace, and that families should be safe in their homes,” they said in a statement. “We hope this tragedy spurs elected officials to take action toward common-sense measures on access to high-powered weapons so that no one else must suffer.”
Semiautomatic rifle restrictions have passed in some states
A federal ban on certain semiautomatic firearms and large-capacity magazines expired in 2004. But 11 states and Washington, D.C., now have some sort of prohibition on high-powered firearms.
The most recent is Rhode Island, where Democratic Gov. Dan McKee signed legislation to prohibit the sale, manufacturing and distribution of certain high-powered firearms. The law, which takes effect in 2026, does not prohibit possessing them, a key distinction compared with other so-called assault weapon bans.
Despite Democratic control of state government, a prohibition on certain semiautomatic weapons has failed to pass in Colorado, which has seen some of the country’s worst mass shootings — including the 1999 Columbine High School massacre.
Instead, Colorado enacted a measure this year that requires background checks and a state-sanctioned safety course to buy most semiautomatic guns with detachable magazines.
The U.S. Supreme Court in June declined to take up a case challenging Maryland’s ban on certain semiautomatic weapons, though several conservative justices expressed an interest in doing so.
The legal fights continue. The Firearms Policy Coalition, which challenged Maryland’s law, said Thursday that it has asked the Supreme Court to take up a challenge to a ban on semiautomatic weapons in Cook County, Illinois, which includes Chicago.
“The Supreme Court must end this lawless two-step where politicians ban arms they dislike and judges pretend that’s constitutional to rubber-stamp their policy preferences,” said Brandon Combs, the gun-rights group’s president.
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Lieb reported from Jefferson City, Missouri. Associated Press writer Jack Dura contributed from Bismarck, North Dakota.
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