Olson: Minnesota Republicans are stalling on gun reform — to no one’s surprise

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Republican conservatives faulted Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey for talking about prayer when he spoke outside Annunciation Catholic Church after last week’s mass shooting.

Then Republicans lamented the state of mental health care because the Annunciation shooter may have been a transgender person. Then they dinged Gov. Tim Walz for proposing a special legislative session to pass an assault-weapons ban.

Senate Minority Leader Mark Johnson, R-East Grand Forks, called Walz’s proposal a “partisan stunt.”

House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, expressed disappointment that Walz was talking about gun safety and a special session “in such an overtly political way.”

When has gun safety ever been anything less than a nuclear-level political proposal? Not since the National Rifle Association (NRA) started exerting influence some 50 years ago.

Republicans in Minnesota are once again deploying the classic tactics to thwart legislation they don’t like: deny, distract, deny and redirect.

They’re effective tools often used to block bills a party has little interest in passing. In some cases, they even allow the party to feign interest while lamenting the state of affairs — as if they themselves aren’t prominent players in the whole process.

Everyone does it when it suits their needs. Here’s how it plays out: Stall and bog down the discussion until momentum is lost, attention shifts and a new crisis emerges to demand attention.

Let’s not let fall prey to the pattern and allow gun safety measures to become a casualty of legislative stonewalling. Pressure must be applied to policymakers before the memory of two dead children and the 21 injured fades.

The public’s role here cannot be understated. Now as much as ever, the Legislature needs to hear from voters. The Legislature is in a weird moment of flux, closely divided between the two parties with special elections and open seats.

The unwilling party on gun measures, however, has been the GOP. In recent years, DFLers have passed new gun safety measures without votes from Republicans.

And those were tough “yes” votes for some DFLers in greater Minnesota swing districts. Now it’s time for Republicans, especially those in purple suburban seats, to step up and help get weapons of war off our streets and out of our schools.

It’s been little more than a week, and perhaps there are private discussions, but so far we’re still not hearing from Republicans with firm ideas on how to stanch access to assault rifles and high-capacity magazines that allow shooters to fire dozens of rounds without reloading.

What the state desperately needs now is leadership, specifically from Republicans in purple districts, those who won by slimmer margins and who have a large number of DFL constituents. These lawmakers include Sens. Jim Abeler of Anoka, Julia Coleman of Waconia, Michael Kreun of Blaine and Bill Lieske of Lonsdale. And in the House, there are Reps. Wayne Johnson of Cottage Grove, Andrew Meyers of Tonka Bay, Danny Nadeau of Rogers, Erika Schwartz of Nicollet, Jeff Witte of Lakeville and Natalie Zeleznikar of Fredenberg Township in St. Louis County.

The Legislature can only thwart the will of the majority for so long, right? A MinnPost poll in 2022, in the weeks after the Uvalde school massacre, found 54% of respondents somewhat or strongly favored a ban on assault-style weapons.

Passing any gun legislation will be exceedingly difficult, and if Republicans want to crush it, they can. Walz said the same recently as he welcomed children back to schools: “I’m going to need some Republicans to break with the orthodoxy and say that we need to do something on guns.”

Demuth said House Republicans “stand ready to protect students and schools” with “real conversation about all aspects of safety” including school security funding and mental health resources.

So let’s get to all of those real conversations, but first let’s curb access to assault rifles.

From a news conference in the Capitol basement Tuesday, Twin Cities mayors pleaded with the Legislature to do something or let cities do it themselves.

“Give us the ability to keep our constituents safe,” Frey implored.

Nobody’s talking about confiscating weapons already purchased. They just want to make it harder to buy assault weapons from this day forward.

Minnetonka Mayor Brad Wiersum explained it through the lens of his career in marketing: “Increased access equals increased consumption.”

“What we’re trying to do is make improvements over time,” Wiersum said. “Ban the future sale and start mitigating the problem.”

Can we please do something to give us just a shred more peace of mind when we drop the kids at school or walk into a grocery store, shopping mall, club or concert?

Ten states already have a type of ban on the sale, transfer and manufacturing of assault weapons. If a bipartisan group in this Legislature can’t come together and get Minnesota in that club of states, then voters need to look to 2026 when all 201 legislators are on the ballot.