Walz makes gun control central to pitch for third term

Gov. Tim Walz vowed to respond to gun violence as he jumped into the race for a third term Tuesday, after a summer marked by a political assassination and multiple mass shootings. The message punctuated Walz’s evolution on an issue that’s taken on new urgency among Democrats in Minnesota.

In his campaign launch video, Walz called on Minnesotans to come together and said he wants to “get serious about gun violence.”

The two-term governor has called for Minnesota lawmakers to vote on banning assault weapons, such as AR-15s, and said he plans to call a special session to address gun violence. A lifelong hunter and gun owner, Walz’s positions on gun violence represent a considerable shift compared with his early political career.

Walz addressed his change of views last year before joining then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for president, saying that his children had influenced his views on firearms. Growing up in a small town, he said, he kept a shotgun in his car to go pheasant hunting after school.

“But we weren’t getting shot in school. We didn’t have ARs in school. ... It was, for me, both a reckoning and an embarrassment,” Walz said in a podcast interview in July 2024.

A vote on gun-control measures could satisfy the party’s base, but it might endanger Democrats in rural districts where such policies are less popular. Democrats have narrow control in the state Senate and are expected to return to a tie in the Minnesota House.

Walz was first elected to represent the largely rural First Congressional District and had an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association while in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The following year, Walz opposed efforts by then-President Barack Obama to push a ban on assault-style weapons.

But during his years in Congress, he became increasingly open to prohibiting assault weapons.

By the time he launched his campaign for governor in 2018, Walz donated $18,000 in political contributions he had received over his political career from the NRA to a nonprofit supporting families of fallen soldiers.

A shooter had recently opened fire on students and staff at a high school in Parkland, Fla. Walz’ school-aged daughter at the time came to him and said, “You’re the only person I know who’s in elected office, you need to stop what’s happening.”

Walz said in an op-ed published in the Minnesota Star Tribune that when he was growing up the NRA was “an advocate for sportsmen and women that held gun-safety classes.”

As governor, he has signed legislation mandating background checks on all gun sales, including at gun shows and in private transfers. He signed a red-flag law, which allows loved ones or law enforcement to petition to have individuals’ firearms removed if they are deemed a danger to themselves or others.

When he joined the Harris campaign as her vice presidential running mate, the NRA said Walz had “purported to be a friend of gun owners to receive their support in his rural Minnesota district.”

“Once he had his eyes set on other offices, he sold out law-abiding Minnesotans and promoted a radical gun control agenda,” Randy Kozuch, chair of the NRA Political Victory Fund, said the same day Walz was announced as Harris’ running mate.

A spokesperson for the governor said in a statement Tuesday that he’s a “lifelong hunter, gun owner and veteran.”

“But the destruction and heartbreak of school shootings have moved him to take common-sense action to save lives and keep students safe,” the spokesperson said.

Last week, Walz said he would call a special session and urged lawmakers to vote on banning assault-style firearms and high-capacity magazines.