House Move Roils Gun Control Debate at Minnesota Legislature

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Minnesota Senate GOP Majority Leader Paul Gazelka says gun control is dead for the session if House Democrats stick to their plan to wrap two of their priority bills for addressing gun violence into an umbrella public safety budget bill.

Gazelka spoke to reporters Thursday after House Speaker Melissa Hortman and House Majority Leader Ryan Winkler said the larger bill would include the separate bills for background checks on gun transfers and for allowing temporary confiscations of guns from people judged to be an imminent threat to themselves or others. The House leaders hope to make the gun proposals harder for senators to reject by bundling them with other measures.

But Gazelka says putting gun proposals into the must-pass budget bill is "very dangerous" because the Senate won't support them.