ROCHESTER, Minn. – Gov. Tim Walz called for another gun safety hearing in the Minnesota Senate on Wednesday, Sept. 21, after a series of “swatting” incidents at schools across the state.
Walz said his 15-year-old son, who attends high school in Mankato, Minnesota, came home traumatized after police responded to a fake call Wednesday reporting an active gunman at the school.
“For four years, I’ve been asking the Senate to hold a hearing on guns and security and smart changes that we need to make,” Walz said during a campaign stop Thursday in Rochester. “I said very specifically what I said – I asked them to hold a hearing – to start a conversation and they won’t even do that.”
Joe Ahlquist / Post Bulletin
Walz said the Republican-controlled state Senate stands between Minnesotans and family vacations, a gun safety hearing and secure abortion rights for women.
“I feel like the Senate is the reason Minnesotans can’t have nice things,” he said.
Walz told the group of about three dozen people at the DFL office in Olmsted that Wednesday’s incidents underscore the need for more mental health resources in public schools.
“These are issues that the legislature needs to talk about,” said Walz. “They don’t tell us our curriculum is wrong and ban books that our educators and our parents have access to and need access to, and aren’t trying to disappoint them at a time when we need more mental health counselors need health.”
Joe Ahlquist / Post Bulletin
Walz was also responding to criticism from his GOP challenger Scott Jensen, who spoke to supporters in Rochester on Sunday, that Walz’s climate plan was unrealistic.
“That’s a thought that would leave us anywhere in the world,” said Walz. He noted that Xcel Energy, Fortune 500 companies and research firms have supported a plan to reduce the state’s net carbon emissions to zero by 2050. He said the plan is an economic opportunity that meets the desires of Minnesotans.
“Obviously, as you look ahead to 2050, more things are going to happen, but these are the people who are even stopping us from putting in electric car chargers,” Walz said.
