Minnesota Moms Demand Action, Everytown Respond To Minnesota Senate Hearing On Current Gun Laws
12.19.2019
The Minnesota Senate Held a Hearing Today on the State’s Current Gun Laws, Instead of Working to Require Background Checks on All Gun Sales and Pass a Red Flag Bill Needed in the State
ST. PAUL, Minn. – Volunteers with the Minnesota chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, part of Everytown for Gun Safety, today released the following statement after the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing to review “current gun laws,” rather than working to pass the laws needed to save lives in Minnesota, including legislation requiring background checks on all gun sales and a red flag bill. Despite overwhelming support in Minnesota for background checks and a red flag law, the committee instead spent time reviewing current statutes. The hearing did not allow for public testimony.
“A room full of gun safety advocates listened today to Sen. Limmer’s hearing on current gun laws, and one thing is clear: Minnesota isn’t doing enough to prevent gun violence,” said Bob Mokos, a Moms Demand Action volunteer and member of the Everytown Survivor Network whose sister, Diane, was shot and killed during an attempted robbery in 1986. “It’s time for Senate leadership to consider meaningful policies to protect our communities and stop blocking public debate on popular, life-saving legislation that they’ve ignored for nearly a year.”
Volunteers with the Minnesota chapter of Moms Demand Action attended a press conference ahead of the hearing, and urged the legislature to take action to pass stronger gun bills to strengthen the state’s background check system and establish a red flag law.
The press conference was attended by Sen. Ron Latz, the sponsor of the bill on background checks on all gun sales and a red flag bill in the Minnesota Senate and Ramsey County Attorney John Choi.
With over 400 gun deaths per year in Minnesota, and an 18 percent increase in gun deaths over the last decade, Minnesotans have been demanding increased safety standards and improvements to gun laws, but Sen. Warren Limmer, the Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman, has blocked any and all gun violence prevention legislation from getting as much as a hearing in his committee.