Minnesota Republicans want to make mental health the focus of the state’s response to high-profile violent incidents in recent months, setting up a conflict with Democrats who say firearms restrictions must be part of the solution.
This comes in response to Gov. Tim Walz vowing to call lawmakers back to the Capitol after the shooting deaths of Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband in their home in June and two schoolchildren at a Minneapolis Catholic church and school in August.
“We could spend weeks upon weeks just on the mental health portion, what can we do to hopefully get people the help so they aren’t, what I would refer to as disturbed, so they don’t shoot through windows at children,” said Sen. Rich Draheim, R-Madison Lake, during an informal Senate working group hearing Wednesday to discuss gun violence prevention measures.
The conflicting approaches from the two parties follow well-worn paths in the long debate over legislative solutions to mass shootings, and it’s not clear that Walz will be able to bring the sides together as he makes a gun control pitch central to his latest re-election effort. With the governor and all 201 legislators on the ballot next year, the state’s response is likely to figure in both parties’ campaign messages.
House Republicans have rolled out a plan that includes more school security funding, school resource officers and funding for mental health treatment beds.
Democrats have said they’re open to exploring ideas beyond gun control to address mass shootings, but they insist mental health and security measures are not enough.
“You can’t address reducing gun violence without addressing the guns themselves, but even on our side of the aisle there’s a recognition that it’s more complex than that alone,” said Sen. Ron Latz, DFL-St. Louis Park, who is leading the working group. “The GOP has been consistent in indicating that it’s about the people and not the guns.”