Dear Neighbors,
We’re wrapping up our second week of the legislative session, and if you were to walk around the Capitol grounds right now, you would see dozens of school desks sitting in the melting snow. These desks represent the over 200 Minnesota school children killed by gun violence since 2021. There are two more desks, these ones in a Capitol hallway, that belonged to 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski. Fletcher and Harper were killed last August in the shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis, ending a summer that started with the killing of the Hortmans and the shooting of the Hoffmans. The desks outside show that gun violence has been an issue well before last summer, but it was the events of last year that once again threw Minnesota into a national spotlight for all the wrong reasons. While we’ve made progress, including Minnesota’s Red Flag Law and additional background checks that I helped pass into law, more clearly needs to be done to protect Minnesotans from gun violence. This week in the House Public Safety Committee, students and parents from Annunciation came to advocate for gun safety bills, specifically a ban on semiautomatic military-style assault weapons and large-capacity ammunition magazines. The committee heard from Harper’s mom, Jackie Flavin. It’s about as heart-wrenching of a testimony as I’ve ever heard at the State Capitol, but it’s important we all listen to her remarks. We can’t afford to look away. |