Governor Tim Walz is talking about changes to a Minnesota law that allows open-carry at the State Capitol complex. Walz says Michigan, with a Republican House and Senate, changed its rules. “This is not something that inhibits your ability to purchase, own, shoot or do whatever you want to do, but in the middle of a heated political debate on public land where other people come, to carry that thing in a reckless manner is meant to intimidate. That’s why you’re doing it.”
Walz says he wanted a robust conversation last year about firearms “carry” at the State Capitol but it never received a hearing in the Republican-controlled Minnesota Senate. Maple Grove Senator Warren Limmer, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, was not available to respond. Long guns and shotguns are currently prohibited inside the State Capitol building itself, but *are* allowed outside.
Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan says, “I think we are ready to have this conversation. What we witnessed, the attack on the Capitol in Washington D-C and the tensions that we’re feeling now, it’s time.”