Minnesota Gun Laws Fail in Apartment Building Shooting

We didn’t cover it all that much, in part because a fair bit was going on, but a shooting at a Minneapolis apartment building sent people scrambling last week as police descended upon it to deal with the active shooter threat. I wrote the original report and mostly moved on. The killer apparently decided he didn’t like the idea of being evicted, despite a history beyond not living up to his responsibilities under the lease agreement.

Because you should never have to pay your rent, apparently.

While we didn’t cover it, it was news, and the more we learn about what happened, the more I know how angry I’m going to get when the media turns its attention on demands for gun control following the incident.

Why? Because the laws on the books didn’t work.

The eviction complaint says Johnson “continued to breach the lease and last chance directive.” On June 19, Johnson made “concerning verbal statements” about using a gun to a security officer while lifting up his shirt and showing his firearm. Then on June 25, Johnson walked around the block with his firearm visible and brandished a firearm at another resident in the common area.

The complaint says police were called, and Johnson attempted to bribe staff to tell him who called police. According to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office, police said Johnson, who had a legal permit to carry, displayed the weapon but it did not leave his waistband. The office determined he could not be charged due to insufficient evidence. That’s also why the office didn’t use Minnesota’s Red Flag law, which allows the courts to take guns from a person who could harm themselves or others. Other courts, though, did deem him a threat.

Sources told WCCO that Johnson had been evicted from his apartment earlier Wednesday. Court documents also show Johnson was scheduled for a trial and had a hearing on Sept. 11.

Documents show Johnson was also the subject of a restraining order. The 27-year-old mother of his child said that between March 6, 2023 and March 10, 2023, he had sent over 120 text messages with “vulgar insults and threats” from 10 different phone numbers.

Let’s understand this: this guy brandished a firearm at another, which sounds like aggravated assault to me, and the police didn’t arrest him. No one sought a red flag order. The incident with the mother of his child was before the state had that law in place, but a restraining order makes on a prohibited person, and I bet he wasn’t.

Yet again, the laws in place were ignored in the case of a truly violent person, and you know good and well that the outcome of this will be someone trying to push for more gun control laws.

This is why so many say to enforce the laws on the books. It’s not that the laws are good; it’s that the Left kept saying we needed those laws to prevent situations like this one from happening, then do nothing to actually stop it.

My tinfoil hat theory is that this is by design. It’s all part of an effort to keep the violent crime rate high so they can justify more and more gun control and convince the public to go along with it.

I can’t prove that’s what’s happening, mind you. I’m just saying that I can’t think of anything I’d do differently if that were my intent.