ST. PAUL – Following the horrific shootings at Annunciation Church in Minneapolis that took the lives of two children and injured many others, State Representative Paul Torkelson (R-Hanska) said he supports a plan brought forward by House Republicans last week that seeks to better protect schools and communities.
“In light of recent incidents, it’s important for lawmakers to act in a way that actually protects our kids if we are called into a special session,” Torkelson said.
Torkelson said the goal of the proposal is to protect students, provide desperately needed mental health care, and hold criminals who commit the vast majority of violent crimes accountable.
Some of the provisions include expanding school safety funding to non-public schools; providing school security grants and flexibility for school funding streams to be used for safety improvements; making School Resource Officers available to every school; repealing or amending the prohibition on doctors using their best medical judgment; boosting funding for mental health treatment beds; and mandating mandatory minimum prison sentences for repeat gun criminals and for straw purchasers who enable a violent crime.
“It’s my hope that if we are called into special session that political grandstanding will be avoided,” Torkelson said. “Anything that is brought forward will have to have bipartisan support, and these are proposals that are both commonsense and noncontroversial.”