Minnesota's Democratic lawmakers occupied their chamber Thursday night in a dramatic protest after the Republican speaker refused to hold a vote on a gun violence prevention bill, breaking what supporters say was a direct promise to the families of shooting victims.
The sit-in began around 9pm following a failed procedural motion to bring the measure to the floor. Representative Samantha Sencer-Mura, a Minneapolis Democrat, had issued an ultimatum to Speaker Lisa Demuth on Wednesday, demanding a vote within 24 hours or face the action. About 20 Democratic lawmakers participated in the overnight occupation.
The bill passed the Democratic-controlled state senate earlier this month with a narrow margin. The house chamber remains deadlocked at 67 votes on each side, with Demuth's authority as speaker giving Republicans effective control despite the split.
The legislation would ban semi-automatic assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, tighten firearm storage rules, block untraceable "ghost guns," strengthen risk protection orders, and require schools to establish threat reporting systems. The push follows a school shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in August that killed two students and injured others during a mass gathering.
Sencer-Mura and other gun control advocates pointed to Demuth's earlier statements to families of victims, including Harper Moyski's parents. The 10-year-old was killed in the Annunciation shooting, along with 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel. Mike Moyski and Jackie Flavin said they specifically asked Demuth whether she would allow an assault weapons and high-capacity magazine ban to reach a floor vote, and she agreed to do so.
Demuth has since taken a different position. She previously said the bill needed committee review and would move "at the appropriate time." When questioned about the delay Wednesday, she gave no timeline. In an April interview, Demuth, whose own children were on a school campus during a 2003 shooting, expressed skepticism about gun bans as a solution.
"When I saw the governor come out and immediately go to gun bans, I thought, oh, this is not the answer," she told the Star Tribune. "This is not going to bring these kids back and that's all these families want."
Sencer-Mura fired back at the speaker's resistance. "What is speaker Lisa Demuth so afraid of?" she said in a statement. "She's breaking her promise to Annunciation families. The very fact that she's blocking the bill from the floor tells me that she's afraid it will pass. She's afraid that her members are hearing their constituents and are going to choose to be on the right side of history."
Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat, has backed the gun control measures. Demuth's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the sit-in or the broken promise allegation.
Thursday brought additional momentum for supporters. Advocates delivered a petition with more than 7,000 signatures from Everytown for Gun Safety. Students and survivors of gun violence spent the day at the capitol lobbying lawmakers directly. Over the past week, advocates staged medical simulations of gunshot injuries, a "sing-in," and a pray-in to press their case.
The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, a pro-gun lobby, dismissed the sit-in on social media. "Apparently, constitutional rights are now subject to political performance art," the group wrote on Twitter. "No amount of floor theater changes the constitution."
The state legislature faces an adjournment deadline of May 18, leaving little time for action. A similar overnight sit-in by state senator Erin Maye Quade in 2018 over gun control inaction did not produce new laws, a cautionary sign for this week's protest.
Author James Rodriguez: "This sit-in exposes a real tension between Democratic promises to grieving families and Republican control of the legislative machinery, but without a path to break the 67-67 tie, it's theater with an uncertain ending."
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