Senate Convenes Working Group to Discuss Firearm Violence

September 18, 2025

A Minnesota Senate gun violence prevention working group convened twice this week to discuss policy solutions to address public safety, following recent instances of firearm violence in Minnesota.  

The MMA shared a letter with the working group, noting its support of evidence-based policies proven to lower rates of death and injury due to firearms. 

“Not taking immediate action will only put the lives of more Minnesotans at risk,” wrote MMA President Edwin Bogonko, MD, MBA, in the letter. “On behalf of the MMA, I urge lawmakers to pass a full statewide ban on assault rifles, including military-style semi-automatic firearms, and a statewide ban on high-capacity magazines.”  

The letter also included MMA’s support for a statewide requirement that firearms be securely stored, unloaded, and kept separate from ammunition, known as “safe storage” laws. Lastly, the MMA noted support for the removal of current prohibition on local municipalities enacting stricter firearm regulations than the state. 

Other groups and individuals testified in support of these proposals. Among them, parents of victims from the recent shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis. 

“It is up to our lawmakers to decide which weapon our next mass shooter is armed with,” testified a parent of a third-grader who was injured in the shooting, regarding a statewide ban on assault weapons. 

Providers who treated those victims also testified: “From a handgun, the wound would likely have only been a graze wound, but from a high-powered rifle, it became a life-threatening brain injury,” said Tim Kummer, MD, EMS medical director of community outreach at Hennepin Healthcare, when discussing one of the cases from the shooting. “Assault rifles turn survivable injuries into fatal ones.” 

DFL lawmakers, including working group co-chairs Sen. Ron Latz (DFL – St. Louis Park), chair of the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, and Sen. Zaynab Mohamed (DFL – Minneapolis), whose district includes Annunciation, support these policies.  

Republican members differed with their approach. Instead, they brought forth several policy suggestions that call for eliminating gun-free zones in Minnesota, adding more school-resource officers across the state, and limiting youth access to Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), though no evidence exists connecting those prescribed with SSRIs and mass shootings. 

The working group met September 15 and 17, and is not currently scheduled to reconvene.  

If Gov. Tim Walz calls a special session, as the MMA has requested, it will take bipartisan support to pass a public safety legislative package. Following the resignation of Sen. Nicole Mitchell (DFL – Woodbury) and the death of Sen. Bruce Anderson (R-Buffalo), the partisan balance of the Minnesota Senate is 33 DFL- 32 R. Thirty-four members are required to pass a bill and special elections to fill Mitchell’s and Anderson’s seats are not scheduled until November.   

In the House, following Tuesday’s special election to fill the seat of the late Rep. Melissa Hortman, there will be a 67-67 partisan split after DFL Representative-elect Xp Lee (DFL – Brooklyn Park) is sworn in next week.  

“In order for any of the MMA’s firearm safety priorities to pass in a special session, there would need to be one Republican Senator and one Republican House member to vote yes, and all DFL members would need to do the same,” said Chad Fahning, MMA’s senior manager of lobbying and legislative affairs. “That has been extremely challenging in the past. These have been very partisan issues.” 

The MMA has urged members to reach out to their legislators on this issue. Please visit the MMA’s Action Alert page to send a message to your legislator, urging them to support firearm safety legislation.