Kumar: Has the Annunciation shooting changed your mind about assault-style weapons?

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The debate about guns in Minnesota reignited almost as soon as the gunfire at Annunciation Church ended.

It’s a debate that’s already playing out at the State Capitol, city halls and in the opinion pages of this media outlet.

While some would like to avoid it altogether, it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. Gov. Tim Walz has said he plans to call a special session in which he’d like to put a state ban on assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines on the table. Other local elected officials are also talking about enacting such bans.

So let’s talk about it.

First, I will grant you that many Americans are tired of talking about it. Exasperated, really. Perhaps because we’ve been talking about this for more than two decades and don’t have much to show for it as mass shootings continue and active shooter drills have become an unpleasant, but now apparently “normal,” part of going to school in America.

Mental health is also a big part of the equation, as many rightfully point out. But for many, gun policy is also a part of the solution.

While efforts in Congress to revive a federal ban on assault weapons failed after Sandy Hook, a handful of states such as Connecticut, New York and Maryland passed assault weapons bans in the wake of that horrific school shooting in 2012. Today, 10 states — and soon to be 11 when Rhode Island’s new law goes into effect next year — ban such military-style guns.

Two of the weapons the Annunciation shooter used last week are considered assault-style weapons, including an AR-15 from which 116 rounds were found at the scene.

After the Annunciation shooting, I started reading up on the AR-15 and learned it was once seen as a fringe part of the gun market, but has since become the bestselling rifle in America. In fact, 1 in 20 U.S. adults own at least one AR-15, according to a poll two years ago by the Washington Post and Ipsos.

So here’s what I want to know, and I’d love to hear it from gun owners themselves: Why do you own assault-style weapons? How do you use them? And would it feel like a big sacrifice if you weren’t able to buy them anymore (but could still buy handguns and other hunting or sporting rifles) if it meant it might save some lives when the next shooter decides to attack a school or a place of worship?

In addition to gun owners, I’d love to hear from Annunciation families and others who have been impacted by gun violence; Republicans, Democrats and independents; students, teachers and administrators; researchers, public policy experts, law enforcement agents and pretty much anyone in Minnesota who has something thoughtful and insightful to share on this topic.

Minnesotans have already indicated support — albeit sometimes by slim margins — for an assault weapons ban in the past. In 2019, about 58% of Minnesotans supported a ban on military-styled rifles in a Star Tribune Minnesota Poll. More recently, in 2022 after the Uvalde school shooting, 54% of Minnesotans said they would support such a ban in a MinnPost/Change Research poll. Nonetheless, efforts to pass such bans in Minnesota in the past have not gone anywhere, and the conventional wisdom is that doing so now will be an uphill battle given the political divisions at the State Capitol.

But has the Annunciation shooting, or the mass shooting the day before across from Cristo Rey Jesuit High School or other experiences, made you think differently about the problem and the solution?

And if you don’t think part of the answer is focusing on assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, then what other tangible ways do you think we can proactively address the issue of gun violence? Let’s put it all out there.

Write us a letter to the editor or a commentary. We’ll share some of your responses in these pages in the days and weeks to come.