Months after Annunciation shooting in Minneapolis, no clear path to prevent the next one

MINNEAPOLIS — Advocates for a swift legislative response to the fatal shooting of two children inside a south Minneapolis church last summer knew gun control measures would be extremely difficult to push through the narrowly divided Legislature.

That’s proven true, with Republicans holding up every major gun bill in the evenly split House.

And now, in the session’s waning weeks, even a bipartisan effort to improve school security and mental health resources for students appears to be at risk of failure.

The August shooting upended life in a well-to-do and typically quiet part of the city, provoked heroic actions from first responders and caused churches across the state and country to tighten security.

It also motivated parents from Minneapolis’ Annunciation Catholic Church and School, including those whose children were killed and wounded, to organize and make intense, personal lobbying efforts to legislators and Gov. Tim Walz for gun control and other violence-prevention measures.

But with every passing day, their efforts are at increasing risk of falling to the same partisan stalemate that has defined the political response to school shootings in recent decades.

“I’m not shocked,” said Mike Moyski, father of 10-year-old Harper Moyski, who was killed during the shooting. “I am disappointed that parties aren’t working together more.”

Still, Moyski said he and other Annunciation parents are hopeful that legislators will find a path forward. They have until just May 18 to work through significant differences between the two parties on how to approach school safety.

Early last week, Republicans introduced a package of policies that includes the encouragement of new anonymous threat-reporting systems, the rollback of a 2023 DFL-backed law that prohibited the suspension of K-3 students, increased mental health funding and tens of millions of dollars in new spending on security-improvement grants that would be available to public and private schools.

Republicans have fought hard to fund security upgrades at private and tribal schools, noting that Annunciation should benefit from whatever lawmakers do this session. Those would be paid for, in part, by raiding a state savings account set up for the proposed Northern Lights Express train between Duluth and the Twin Cities.

“My fundamental goal is simple: Protect students in every school,” sponsor Rep. Bryan Lawrence, R-Princeton, said during a floor debate last week.

Some of their ideas have bipartisan support, including one that would require the state to develop a model school safety plan for use by local school boards.

But the GOP bill failed on party lines, both in a committee hearing and later during a floor debate. Democrats argued that anonymous threat systems should be mandatory for school districts, criticized the repeal of the suspension prohibition, and said any serious school safety measure must include limits on guns.

They also oppose a provision that would allow schools to shift funding for school security from money designated for student support aid, which pays for school psychologists, social workers and other support staff.

The DFL proposal does not contain any new funding for school security — or “hardening,” as DFL House Education Finance Committee co-Chair Rep. Cheryl Youakim of Hopkins described it — an approach some research suggests has little effect on preventing violence.

Rather, the DFL bill would require districts to adopt anonymous reporting systems, boost state funding for student support staff and impose new limits on guns on school campuses.

“We can’t talk about one thing and not talk about the other,” Youakim said. “We have to talk about firearms.”

That bill, however, also failed to advance out of committee last week. Youakim and other key legislators from both parties said they will keep working toward a compromise.

Moyski said he’d like to see state support for private school security, though he added it’s not a “deal breaker.” More broadly, Moyski said he wants both parties to work together to get something done.

“I don’t think constituents are going to be happy on either side of the aisle if we do nothing about this, given the frequency of these events,” he said.

Moyski and other Annunciation parents have pushed hard for legislators to pass gun control bills along with school safety legislation. Moyski, his wife Jackie Flavin, and others have given emotional testimony in committee after committee this session and met with dozens of legislators pushing them to limit access to guns.

But Republican legislators, including GOP House Speaker Lisa Demuth and other key bill sponsors, have refused to budge.

“I’ve had ongoing conversations with many of the Annunciation families and they have their perspective right now,” Rep. Ben Bakeberg, a Jordan Republican and co-sponsor to the GOP school safety bill, told reporters last week. “This is what we can agree on. We are focusing on solutions that we can get done for Minnesota.”

Republicans have given support to some smaller gun bills, including a tune-up of the DFL-backed 2023 red flag law that allows certain people to petition a court to have guns taken from people in crisis.

Some DFLers hope that House Republican leaders will agree to broader gun control bills during last-minute negotiations — especially if the Senate can pass them and put public pressure on House Republicans to act.

“If it doesn’t, I think that that becomes an issue for the election,” said Rep. Emma Greenman, a Minneapolis DFLer whose district includes Annunciation and who has carried some of the failed gun control bills.

Moyski said he’s hopeful for Republican support on a limit on high-capacity magazines yet this session. But he too said that more ambitious bills may have a better chance next year, depending on the outcome of the November election.

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