This is truly ghoulish: Minnesota Democrats are fundraising off Robin Westman’s murderous spree:
Note the suggestion that “Minnesota Republicans…may refuse to take action, even now.” As though it were self-evident that Westman’s murders require banning a particular type of firearm, one of several, I believe, that he used.
Governor Tim Walz has said that he is considering calling a special session to enact more gun control legislation, including an “assault rifle” ban. Minnesota Democrats want to turn the 2026 election into a referendum on gun control, as they turned the 2022 election into a referendum on abortion. They thus seek to avoid accountability for the disasters that their unitary rule over the state has caused.
When the Democrats had unfettered control in 2023, they did not try to enact an “assault rifle” ban. Rather, they passed “red flag” legislation that is intended to prevent mentally ill people, like Robin Westman, from maintaining possession of firearms. It obviously didn’t work in this case.
The Democrats would be able to pass a rifle ban if one House Republican votes for it, since that body is tied 67-67. That assumes that every Democrat in the House and the Senate votes for the ban and that Democrats win the special elections that are pending.
Such a ban could well be unconstitutional under the Heller and Bruen decisions. Several federal appellate courts have upheld such bans, while at least one district court has held such a ban unconstitutional. The Supreme Court so far has declined to rule on those cases, but eventually will have to do so. I think the current Court probably would hold “assault rifle” bans unconstitutional under Heller and Bruen.
The Court also could rely on broader due process principles, as “assault rifle” bans are entirely irrational. Technically speaking, there is no such thing as an assault rifle. It is a purely political term that, as a practical matter, denotes a semiautomatic rifle with a black plastic stock instead of a brown wooden stock. No one suggests that a ban on all semiautomatic rifles, or firearms generally, could be upheld. So what rational basis is there for banning the ones with black plastic stocks?
Of course, any such decision is years off in the future. The Democrats don’t care about the law or the Constitution, they care about the 2026 election.
Finally, by the way, the Democrats’ claim that donations to their House caucus will be reimbursed by taxpayers, up to $75, is correct. This is an outrage in Minnesota law. Not only are the Democrats fundraising off the Westman murders, we taxpayers are subsidizing them to do it.
