Minnesota Senate panel advances assault‑weapons ban, local gun‑law powers
Minnesota senators spent Friday in a marathon Judiciary Committee hearing on 17 gun‑related bills, headlined by a proposed statewide assault‑weapons ban prompted in part by the recent mass shooting at Annunciation Church and School in Minneapolis. Survivors and families, including the father of slain student Harper Moyski, urged lawmakers to restrict rifles designed for rapid fire and catastrophic wounds, while Republicans pointed to the 2016 Crossroads Mall knife attack in St. Cloud to argue that civilians may need similar firepower for self‑defense. The package also includes bills that would let cities like Minneapolis and St. Paul enact stricter local gun ordinances, create a state Office of Gun Prevention, and reinstate a 2024 ban on binary triggers that effectively turn semiautomatics into near‑automatics. Most of the measures cleared the DFL‑controlled committee, but their future is murky in Minnesota’s tied House, where several are already stalled. For Twin Cities residents who live with routine gunfire and are watching school, church and nightlife shootings stack up, this is the latest front in a fight that will decide whether the state tightens access to certain weapons and lets the core cities go further than the statewide floor.
📌 Key Facts
- The Minnesota Senate Judiciary Committee devoted an entire day Friday to 17 gun‑related bills, with a proposed assault‑weapons ban as a central focus.
- The ban is being pushed in direct response to recent mass shootings, including the Annunciation Church and School attack that killed student Harper Moyski.
- Other bills would authorize cities to adopt their own gun‑safety ordinances, create a state Office of Gun Prevention, and reenact a 2024 binary‑trigger ban.
- Most of the bills passed out of the DFL‑majority Senate committee, but they are expected to face significant hurdles in the evenly split House.
📊 Relevant Data
In Minnesota, the overall gun death rate increased by 35% from 2014 to 2023, with the state having the 8th lowest gun homicide rate in the country in 2023.
State Data: Minnesota — Center for Gun Violence Solutions
In 2024, 564 Minnesotans died from gun violence, marking an increase in the first year of the state's red flag law.
Gun violence deaths increased in first year of Minnesota 'red flag' law — MPR News
In 2022, Black people in Minnesota, who comprise about 7% of the population, were victims of violent crime 4.8 times more often than their share of the state population, with a violent victimization rate 7.0 times higher than that of White people.
Minnesota Criminal Justice Data Snapshot — Justice Reinvestment Initiative
In 2022, Black people in Minnesota were arrested for violent crimes at a rate 10.7 times higher than White people.
Minnesota Criminal Justice Data Snapshot — Justice Reinvestment Initiative
Nationally, rifles, including those sometimes referred to as assault weapons, were involved in 4% of firearm murders in recent data.
What the data says about gun deaths in the US — Pew Research Center
Semiautomatic rifles or assault-style weapons are used in an estimated 10 to 47 percent of mass shootings or active shootings.
Mass Shootings in the United States — RAND Corporation
The Federal Assault Weapons Ban (1994-2004), which included a ban on large-capacity magazines, was associated with fewer public mass shooting events, fatalities, and nonfatal gun injuries.
Counterfactual Trend Analysis of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban — JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
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