Still, Pawlenty has said that he too wants to ban bump stocks. The campaign also noted that, when he previously served as governor, Pawlenty signed the states permit-to-carry law. Pawlentys campaign cited his A rating from the NRA as evidence of his commitment to the Second Amendments right to bear arms. Johnson said he would stand by that position even in the case of a Minnesota school shooting: But I would also force the discussion as to why it happened and broaden that discussion to more than an argument about gun control to include issues like family breakdown, mental health system failures and violence-saturated media. I dont believe new gun restrictions would have any impact, he said. ![]() ![]() Johnson, a Hennepin County Commissioner and former Republican lawmaker from Plymouth, said he does not support any legislation that would restrict gun rights. Red flag laws and universal background checks would prevent the wrong people from getting guns, said Zamoff, who noted that the vast majority of gun deaths are suicides more than three out of four. Swanson also favors a law that would allow temporary seizure of a persons guns if a judge determined he or she is a danger, known as a red flag law. Swanson said she would also support expanding background checks to private sales, with exceptions for hunting shotguns and bolt-action rifles. (Minnesota law already bans so called trigger activators an effort in Congress to ban them stalled after pressure from the National Rifle Association.) Swanson would support legislation banning so-called bump stocks, which is a device that can give a conventional gun the rapid fire capability of a machine gun, and was used to devastating effect in the 2017 Las Vegas massacre. In a July news release, Swanson, who is a recreational trap shooter, proposed a gun control agenda that is similar to that of Moms Demand Action, even though she was endorsed by the NRA as recently as 2010. Swanson, the third-term attorney general, is the lone DFL candidate not to reply. Moms Demand Action sent out a questionnaire to candidates. To the extent are out of touch on the gun issue, theyre going to be out of touch with the electorate. For a generation or more, it was the gun rights movement that benefited from single issue voting, but Zamoff said an increasing number of gun control advocates in both parties are focused on gun violence as their main issue.įor more people, its a top issue and a voting issue, Zamoff said. At the same time, I dont think its having any influence with Republicans.Įrin Zamoff, Minnesota state chapter leader of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense, said a key difference this year is the new phenomenon of single issue voters but on the gun control side. Its the first election season where the other side is organized and appealing to DFLers, said Bryan Strawser, chairman of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus. Both Swanson and Walz, meanwhile, have been working to shore up support among DFL voters after both previously earned backing from the National Rifle Association.īoth gun rights and gun control supporters say the political ground has shifted since the mass shooting at a Parkland, Fla., high school earlier this year. But when she served as state House majority leader, in 2013-14, the DFL-controlled Legislatures record on guns was modest amounting to a bill taking guns from stalkers and domestic abusers. Paul state legislator, has long been a gun control advocate. ![]() Johnson says he would veto any gun restrictions that wind up on his desk as governor, but Pawlenty is open to a few new limits. ![]() Republicans Jeff Johnson and Tim Pawlenty are promising to protect gun rights, while DFL candidates Erin Murphy, Lori Swanson and Tim Walz have pledged to sign into law new regulations to prevent gun violence.īut there are differences, even among candidates in the same party. Minnesota voters looking for a clear choice on the gun issue from the leading candidates for governor wont get it until the November election.Īhead of next weeks primary election, the five contenders in the governors race are pitching their appeals to their respective party bases, which tend to drastically differ on whether there should be tighter limits on access to guns.
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