Gun Control Discussions at the Capitol
by Senator Jason Rarick

This summer has been marred with multiple tragedies – many of which have led to renewed calls at the Capitol for gun control. First, there was the horrific situation involving Minnesota lawmakers, then the tragic shooting at Annunciation School, followed by a shooting outside of Cristo Rey. Outside of Minnesota, there was another incident at a Colorado High School, and the killing of Charlie Kirk. These tragic and heartbreaking events have prompted difficult discussions.

In response, the Senate put together an informal committee to discuss efforts to reduce gun violence in our communities. This committee met twice, with the intent of discussing potential legislation to get to the root of the problem. Unfortunately, the committee proceeded much as one might expect. Senate Democrats brought forward a whole host of ideas: a ban on assault rifles, a ban on binary triggers (which was recently ruled unconstitutional), safe storage requirements, and more. What was missing, however, was any serious conversation about the deeper, underlying issues that often lead to violence. I found that disappointing.

Wherever you stand in this discussion, we can all agree that we need to take a wholistic approach to this problem. We’ve seen acts of violence with many weapons, not just guns. We’ve seen vehicles, airplanes, knives, chemical bombs – all things that can be used to commit violence. The tool is secondary to the intent. We need to consider the very real mental health crisis that has occurred right alongside these crimes.

Overall, I’m concerned that many of the proposals that were brought forward would affect law-abiding citizens far more than it would criminals. For instance, bans on assault rifles and binary triggers depend on folks coming forward and getting rid of those firearms. Law abiding citizens certainly would, but we cannot count on criminals following those laws. Years ago, Jesse Ventura was on the radio prior to being elected governor, and he talked about the one method of gun control that would work in a perfect world, and it was his “magnet theory.” Unless you have a super magnet to collect every single firearm out there, gun control will never work because you won’t get guns out of the hands of criminals. While I don’t often agree with Ventura, he was right on this point.

So while I can see the reasoning for the proposals that were discussed in this committee, I’m disappointed that they had such a narrow focus. If we’re serious about keeping our kids safe and reducing gun violence, we must approach the topic from all angles.

First off, additional school safety funding. We need to make funding and resources available to our schools so they can protect their students and faculty. You might remember that when we had a massive surplus, I advocated for anywhere between $200 and $500 million in additional school safety funding. Unfortunately, Senate Democrats never saw merit in that idea.

What about expanding the use of school resource officers (SROs) in schools that would like to have them around? Legislation passed in 2023 led to many schools pulling SROs out of their buildings. When Republicans raised the alarm on this in the summer of 2023, it took Democrats until February 2024 to get on board. We worked tirelessly on a solution that would get these officers back to keeping our kids safe. Unfortunately, during the gun violence committee, when a Republican Senator mentioned further expansion and funding for this program, a Democrat senator called SROs “security theater.”

Two other areas that should be considered: expanding mental health supports and increasing beds available to those in crisis, and prosecuting criminals. Mental health crises have gone ignored for far too long. We’ve also seen criminals released, just to go commit another violent crime. We cannot allow these trends to continue.

I hope this will continue to be a topic of discussion over the next few months as we enter our next legislative session. The fact of the matter is there were a handful of senators appointed to the gun violence committee, and finding solutions will take all of us. I hope everyone understands we are all taking this discussion seriously, but we know that it must be a broader conversation. Going forward, it’s not going to be easy – it's going to be hard and it's going to take difficult decisions. People are going to have to do things they're uncomfortable with, but that's where we have to go. I’m committed to continuing those discussions until we answer the problem and find the best ways to keep kids and Minnesotans safe.