Walz signs executive orders to limit gun violence after legislative talks stall

A visibly frustrated Gov. Tim Walz signed two executive orders on Tuesday, Dec. 16, aimed at addressing gun violence after his push for sweeping gun control laws failed to gain traction in the narrowly divided Legislature.

Walz had been pushing for bills banning assault-style weapons and large-capacity magazines after a shooter killed two children and injured more than two dozen others at the Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis in August. But talks among top lawmakers broke down in the fall.

“I do not have the capacity as governor to issue an executive order to get rid of those,” Walz said of assault weapons at a Capitol news conference flanked by gun control advocates, DFL state lawmakers and Annunciation parents. “But what I do have the ability to do is to start to move [the state] in a direction.”

The first executive order includes provisions to boost the state’s recently passed red-flag law, which allows authorities to take guns from people who pose a threat to themselves or others.

That law has been used hundreds of times to take firearms from individuals who had threatened schools, day care facilities, workplaces and more. But the law hasn’t been used widely across the state.

The new order directs the state Department of Public Safety to encourage its use with law enforcement agencies and prosecutors across the state, as well as publish data on its usage and develop a public education campaign.

The order also directs DPS to develop best practices for the safe storage of firearms — an issue the Legislature has been unable to find consensus on in recent years — and will require insurance companies to turn over claims data involving firearms to the state.

Before signing the orders, Walz addressed the critique from gun rights advocates that any sort of gun control policies violate the Constitution.

“These actions today don’t limit your freedoms at all. Being shot dead in your school certainly does,” he said.

No Republicans were present at the news conference. Walz and DFL lawmakers repeatedly pinned the lack of legislative action on their conservative colleagues.

“We could already be doing so much more to keep Minnesotans safe,” said state Sen. Zaynab Mohamed, DFL-Minneapolis, who represents the neighborhood around Annunciation.

In a statement, Senate Republican Leader Mark Johnson of East Grand Forks said Walz’s orders were “not actual solutions to keeping kids safe in school.”

The chair of the Republican Party called Walz’s orders a “clear admission of weakness” after the governor abandoned his earlier call for a special session on guns.

“Minnesotans don’t need more task forces or political theater. They need a governor who will enforce the law, support law enforcement, and hold criminals accountable,” GOP Chair Alex Plechash said in a statement.

Walz seethed when asked about the statement by reporters and encouraged Plechash to say it in front of Annunciation parents. “What a weak, horrible thing,” Walz said.

Senate Democrats are working on gun violence prevention proposals for the coming legislative session, said Senate Majority Leader Erin Murphy, DFL-St. Paul. She said she expects there to be a vote.

With just a one-seat majority in the Senate and a tied House at 67-67, any significant gun policies face an uncertain path at best next session. Walz said just one Republican in the House — Speaker Lisa Demuth — could break the logjam and at least let a bill come to a vote, though a bill would have to pass through several tied committees or have the backing of almost two dozen republicans to come to the floor.

“They are not going to do anything,” Walz said of Republican legislators. “That’s the way the democracy works. And then next November the people decide if they want something done.”

In a statement, Demuth said it’s false that Republicans are responsible for the impasse and noted not all Democrats have pledged to support more gun restrictions.