ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Gun reform advocates say their movement has new momentum, now that high school students around the nation have turned to political action in response to the tragedy in Parkland, Florida.
A rally organized by Protect Minnesota drew at least 500 people to the Minnesota State Capitol Thursday. The event had been planned since November, but the shooting rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Valentine's Day created a renewed fervor.
"This should not be normal!" Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minneapolis told the crowd, reflecting on how children in her Somali homeland grew up always preparing to warfare.
"We are living in the United States of America. This should NOT be normal!"
Some of the speakers were high school students who vowed not to continue to pressure lawmakers to tighten gun regulations.
"This is not some social media trend or teen rebellion, it is life and death," said a student from St. Louis Park High School. "We are not stopping until thoughts are replaced with action and prayers are replaced with laws."
Sen. Steve Cwodzinki of Eden Prairie said, in his 20 years a high school government teacher, the days after school shootings were always the most difficult because there were no answers.
"The hardest days teachers have is those days they have to look at those students faces in their classrooms, and those students look out as us in disbelief and distrust," Sen. Cwodzinki said, with tears welling up in his eyes.
Proposed legislation
DFL lawmakers are once again proposing a universal background checks bill. Those checks are required already for firearms purchases made from stores and other federally licensed gun dealers, but proponents say nearly 40 percent of firearms are sold through other channels.
"About 40 percent are bypassing that process," Sen. Ron Latz, a St. Louis Park Democrat, told reporters at a press conference prior to the rally.
"People are purchasing firearms person to person, they’re doing it online, on Craigslist or Armlist.com and other means."
Democrats acknowledge the idea faces an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled legislature, and that similar bills have failed to be heard or get out of committees in the past.
"So, we are here calling on the Republican majorities to give hearings to these bills, finally, after years and years, to just allow a vote on these bills, so we can hear where people stand," Rep. Dave Pinto, a St. Paul Democrat who worked a prosecutor in Ramsey County.
The NRA has opposed an expansion of background checks. And Rob Doar, of Gun Owners Caucus in Minnesota, said his group opposes that legislation.
"Without a registry of those transactions, universal background checks would be unenforceable," Doar told KARE.
"For it to be enforceable there has to be a registry of gun owners essentially, and we oppose registries. Not every registry leads to confiscation, but confiscation of firearms always starts with a registry."
Another bill in the hopper at the State Capitol would allow the Minnesota Dept. of Health to collect data on the firearms as part of research into gunshot injuries, homicides and suicides. Currently, state law prohibits the commissioner of public health from collecting such data.
The bill, cosponsored by Rep. Erin Murphy and Sen. Matt Klein, envisions stripping the identity of the gun owners from the data, to avoid violating gun owner privacy regulations. The point, they say, is to allow researchers to track gun violence the way they do other public health threats.
"Knowledge is power and we should never turn a blind eye to the information that will serve our future," Rep. Murphy, who is running for governor, explained.
"This gives us Minnesotans a path forward to understand the epidemic of gun violence."
Republicans have said they're more inclined to explore ways of making schools more secure, rather than adding restrictions to firearms transactions.
"We have to look at the issue as a whole, and not just be reactionary, thinking we’re going to solve the problem with some magic bullet," House Majority Leader Joyce Peppin told reporters Tuesday.
"And we need to be very thoughtful about making sure we have a balance between protecting the Second Amendment, making sure we have due process, and making sure we’re protecting kids to the best of our ability."