After session stalemate, Minnesota's debate over gun control moves into election season

Nathaniel Minor, The Minnesota Star Tribune on May 20, 2026

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MINNEAPOLIS — The crack of a gavel late Sunday marked the failed end to a nearly yearlong effort to strengthen Minnesota’s gun control laws.

It began after the assassination of DFL House Leader Melissa Hortman in June and was given urgency by the mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis a few months later, but ultimately was doomed by House Republicans who blocked every significant gun-related measure last session.

Now, DFL legislators say they will take their failure to the campaign trail to try to pin it on Republicans.

“We will win a majority. And we will pass those bills into law in 2027,” House DFL Leader Zack Stephenson told reporters just after adjournment early Monday.

But that effort will run up against highly motivated gun-rights groups and Republicans who will counter that Democrats could’ve passed many more school-safety measures — like more funding for mental health resources and school security — if they had dropped their insistence that any safety bill include some gun control provisions too.

“What they tried to do is politicize school safety,” said GOP House Speaker Lisa Demuth.

The state’s most prominent gun-rights group said it is gearing up to target swing-seat Democrats who voted for the Senate gun bill, including Sens. Judy Seeberger of Afton, Rob Kupec of Moorhead and Grant Hauschild of Hermantown.

“I do not think that this is a winning issue for the DFL,” said Bryan Strawser, chair of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus.

Strawser said his group will point out what it says are problematic provisions in DFL bills, like one that would’ve allowed police into a gun owner’s home to inspect the storage of an assault-style weapon.

He also contends Democrats are underestimating Minnesotans’ willingness to accept more gun control measures after federal agents swarmed the Twin Cities last winter during the ICE crackdown.

“There’s a lot of discussion along those lines, even in subreddits I would consider to be more liberal or progressive in nature, around that exact thing,” he said. “Like, why are we ‘resisting tyranny’ and then trying to disarm ourselves in the face of that?”

Gun control advocates are cooking up campaign plans of their own. Protect Minnesota Executive Director Maggiy Emery said her group plans to target exurban districts held by Republican legislators. The GOP won two seats in the far east metro by fewer than three points in 2024, and a handful of others in the exurban fringes by fewer than 10 points.

“There’s been a lot of conversation around the mom voter and what moms think about when they go to the ballot box, particularly in these suburban areas,” Emery said. “I think guns are what they’re going to be thinking about this year.”

Emery was also skeptical of Strawser’s plan to target swing-district Democrats. Those legislators’ willingness to support gun control measures was already known and any voters for whom gun control is a deciding issue already weren’t going to support them, she said.

“Those voters were already lost a long time ago,” she said. “People who vote on gun rights are a very, very small percentage of the population, and they’re already aligned with the right side of the electorate.”

The Senate DFL caucus also says it will soon run TV ads highlighting the gun votes of four suburban GOP senators: Sens. Jim Abeler, Karin Housley, Michael Kreun and Julia Coleman.

Gun control advocates are certain to lose an ally when Gov. Tim Walz leaves office in January. But they could gain another if DFL U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar wins the race to replace him. She told the Minnesota Star Tribune earlier this month that she would support a bill banning assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines.

“I have long supported gun-safety legislation,” she said, adding she would also seek to improve school security.

But all of the top-tier Republican gubernatorial candidates are avowed opponents to gun control — including Demuth, who was instrumental in blocking it at the Capitol at the end of the session.

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(Ryan Faircloth of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.)