After facing difficulties advancing his gun ban in the legislature, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D) is now considering a constitutional amendment to prohibit the “sale and possession of assault rifles in the state.”
According to MinnPost, on Saturday, Governor Walz proposed this alternative to tackle gun violence: a constitutional amendment that would ban assault rifles. This would require a majority vote in the Legislature to place the ban on the ballot, followed by voter approval for the amendment to take effect.
In response to the tragic events of the August 27, 2025, shooting at Annunciation Catholic School, Walz advocated for a ban on “assault weapons.” He criticized Republican legislators for their reluctance to support such gun bans, labeling it “unacceptable.”
He tried doubling down on the GOP lawmakers, pressing them to at least hold a “floor vote” on the gun prohibition legislation.
His efforts to promote gun control faced challenges, leading him to propose the idea of a constitutional amendment to achieve what the legislature would not.
“We would let voters decide because it’s incredibly popular,” Walz remarked to reporters during the MinnPost Festival in Minneapolis on Saturday.
However, in his discussions, Walz omitted the fact that the attacker at Annunciation Catholic School used three different firearms — a rifle, a shotgun, and a handgun. This raises the question: how would banning only one type of firearm prevent similar attacks?
Moreover, California has had a ban on “assault weapons” since the late 1980s, yet California led the nation in “active shooter incidents” in 2021 and 2023.
