ST. PAUL, MN – Students, parents, and teachers across Minnesota this week are raising their concerns about school safety and gun violence. Yesterday, during a news conference at the Minnesota State Capitol, Governor Dayton was asked by reporters for his thoughts on school safety, gun violence, and the actions of students and concerned parents in Minnesota who are marching to end gun violence. Full audio of the Governor’s response
is available online. A transcript of his response is included below.
The following statement from Governor Dayton was made in response to questions from reporters at the Minnesota State Capitol on Wednesday, February 21, 2018:
“I salute [the students]; I think it’s courageous and important what they’re doing. There are going to be sustained efforts on March 24th, both here in Minnesota, and a group of students who are going to Washington to join students from around the country. I contributed personally $1,000 to the GoFundMe effort to bring Minnesota students to Washington.
“I think that’s really important. It’s going to take that kind of sustained effort, as well as getting adults as engaged over the next period of time. Typically, these [tragedies] grab attention, and then it dissipates until the next disaster occurs.
“[Speaker Daudt] said, ‘I think we’ll [certainly] talk about it.’ He said, ‘I know it feels good and it feels easy to just say we’re [just] going to ban these weapons. The reality is there are so many [weapons out there already] …’ and there are. ‘The AR-15 is certainly one that is used commonly in these sorts of situations, and that’s just because it’s [so] popular. It’s also probably the most popular hunting gun as well.’
[Governor Dayton holds up a photo of an AR-15]
“Look at this weapon. It fires 700 rounds a minute. I don’t know anyone who needs that for hunting.
“So, anyway, [those comments were] totally the NRA line. And then to consider putting a police officer in every one of 2,400 school buildings around the state? I mean, no one has costed that out … rather than going to the source? And it does have to be national – I mean banning assault weapons, that are really only suitable for killing people, and lots of people – would have to occur at the federal level to be effective.
“What we should do here, and what I’ve advocated for in the past, is closing the loophole, the gun show loophole, and make everyone undergo a background check; make every dealer have to go through the same process as the licensed dealers do now.
“Is that going to end the proliferation of weapons in Minnesota or elsewhere, or prevent people who shouldn’t have them; can’t legally have them from getting their hands on them? No, it’s not going to do that. But does that mean we do nothing, because we can’t do everything?
“[There are] 310 million guns in people’s possession in this country. It’s a huge cesspool that has developed over time. Cleaning up that cesspool is going to take concerted effort over a period of time. But again, there is not even the political willingness by some in the Legislature and some in the U.S. Congress to even begin. They’d rather give it lip service and wait for it to die down.
“The NRA is a very powerful lobby. I don’t know what their mailing list is, but they mail out to their members, and they send out whatever information suits their purpose. Some of it’s accurate, some of it’s not. But that’s the information their members are getting on a monthly basis.
“We have a Second Amendment. There is no question about that. No one wants to confiscate the right of law-abiding citizens to own and possess firearms. I have two myself that are in storage now because I’ve got security. But I had them when I was a citizen, and you know that’s without question.
“I’m quoting the Republican leaders who have already come out to basically say nothing is going to happen this session. But it’s not a strict party line vote by any means, at all.
“It’s probably a lot geographical. The urban and near suburban areas where most of these random shootings incidents occur are more attuned to the need. In Greater Minnesota, where first of all hunting and hunting rights are even more engrained and where the nearest law enforcement officer is a Deputy Sheriff 20 to 40 minutes away, it’s viewed in a very different light.
“But hopefully, God forbid that something like this happens in Minnesota. But what happened in Orono today, and we don’t [yet] have all the details, but somebody has already made a threat. Because every wacko out there sees the publicity out there from one incident and is tempted to do it themselves. And that’s also part of what makes this so incredibly difficult.
“When I was in the [United States] Senate, and George Tenet was then the Director of the CIA, he was talking about trying to prevent another terrorist attack like the one on 9/11. And I can remember the analogy as he referred to a hockey goalie. He said, ‘if a hockey goalie makes 40 saves in a game and lets one in, that’s considered to be a good game.’ He said, ‘in my line of work, that’s a disaster.’
“And it’s the same thing with school protection, which is why it’s so difficult to say we’re going to provide that guarantee in 2,400 school buildings in Minnesota. But we need to try. We need to do a better job. And those students coming from Minneapolis Schools [marching today] even more a reason to be concerned that they’re going to be safe when they go to school every day, and they deserve that assurance.
“I’m not opposed at all [to the notion of having police officers in schools]. There are police officers in schools. But the comment I was referring to was [from Leader Gazelka] was saying that we put a police officer in every school building in Minnesota. There are 2,400 school buildings. So, I mean the number speaks for itself. And as the only response to this I think is inefficient and probably unfeasible. I don’t know where you get 2,400 additional officers, and I don’t know what the cost of that is. But it seemed to be just an off-handed way of having a sound bite and not having a solution.
“But absolutely, if there is any question at all about the need for security, err on the side of safety and security, and put police presence as necessary. It’s an unfortunate signal to young people who are coming in to further their education. But under the circumstances, they probably are reassured and probably, definitely want that kind of assurance and deserve it.”
