Republicans in the Minnesota legislature announced a school-safety agenda on Thursday they say they’ll make a priority to pass during a potential special session and during next year’s regular session.
The package of bills includes several provisions to enhance safety and security measures at public and private school campuses across the state, boost funding and capacity for inpatient mental health treatment, and increase penalties for straw purchasers and repeat gun criminals.
Those are all proposals Republicans introduced in recent legislative sessions, which they say Democrats balked at, including a request for funds to be allocated to nonpublic schools for security enhancements.
“Last session, we proved that we can join together to pass good bills that help Minnesotans,” said House Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring. “Minnesotans deserve real solutions that will meaningfully protect students and actually reduce gun violence. The policies we are proposing will protect students, provide desperately needed mental health care, and hold criminals who commit the vast majority of gun violence accountable.”
The announcement comes in the wake of the Aug. 27 attack at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in Minneapolis. A lone assailant shot at students while they attended morning Mass to mark the first week of school, killing two children.
Politicians, activists and lobbyists for a wide range of interest groups have offered up proposed measures, including security enhancements, stiffer penalties for gun crimes, increased mental health treatment capacity and gun restrictions, since the attack.
On Tuesday, Gov. Tim Walz said he intends to call a special session and propose several gun control measures, which he admitted will need some support from Republicans and moderate DFL legislators to pass.
The round-up of legislation Demuth said her caucus will propose includes:
- School security grants (including the SHIELD Act that was introduced in February 2025)
- Increased flexibility for school funding streams to be used for safety improvements
- Making school resource officers available to every school
- Increased funding for mental health treatment beds
- Mandatory minimum prison sentences for repeat gun criminals and for straw purchasers who enable a violent crime
- Expanding school safety funding to nonpublic schools
Republicans also said they would like to “repeal or amend the Democrats’ prohibition on doctors using their best medical judgment.”
On Saturday, Rep. Drew Roach said he will introduce a bill to repeal Minnesota’s ban on so-called “conversion therapy,” which bans therapy “that seeks to change an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity.”
The shooter in the Annunciation attack reportedly wrote in a manifesto that he “was tired of being trans” and wished he had “never brainwashed” himself.
Republicans said they believe their school safety-focused legislative agenda will gain support across the aisle.
“Instead of blindly following the loudest voices calling for policies that have failed elsewhere, House Republicans have put together an agenda that will make a real difference in keeping our students safe,” said House GOP Leader Harry Niska, R-Ramsey
“I hope Democrats will join us in supporting these common-sense reforms if the Governor calls a special session.”
Hank Long
Hank Long is a journalism and communications professional whose writing career includes coverage of the Minnesota legislature, city and county governments and the commercial real estate industry. Hank received his undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota, where he studied journalism, and his law degree at the University of St. Thomas. The Minnesota native lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and four children. His dream is to be around when the Vikings win the Super Bowl.
