Minnesota Republicans Push SROs Over Gun Control

In the wake of the Minneapolis shooting, it was inevitable that Gov. Tim Walz was going to push for gun control. As it stands, he doesn’t have the votes to make it happen, no matter how hard he wants to push. There’s also some apparent trepidation among a small number of Democrats who aren’t thrilled with the idea of gun control, making it even less likely Walz will get what he wants.

Of course, after this past November, he should be used to disappointment.

Regardless, he wants an assault weapon ban. That’s something that he refuses to take off the table, which is likely hurting his chances at getting anything else.

Republicans in the state, however, have made a number of other suggestions. Now, they’re talking about more funding for school resource officers.

One approach Minnesota lawmakers have been pitching in response to the Annunciation Catholic Church and School shooting is funding for school safety measures — specifically, school resource officers.

SRO funding has been brought forward by House Republicans as part of a school safety package and by Sen. Andrew Mathews, R-Princeton, during the Senate Gun Violence Prevention Working Group earlier this month.

Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara said an Annunciation parishioner told him the first time they felt any sense of safety was when the first officer arrived at 8:31 that morning, four minutes after the shooting started.

“We all know four minutes is still a long time for someone that’s inflicting evil on our kids to keep doing damage. And so I’ve kept trying to think through my mind, what’s the thing that we could do that could be the most immediate help? And this is what I keep coming back to,” Mathews said.

…

Making funds available

Meanwhile, Mathews said he wouldn’t go as far as to mandate officers in schools, but rather is pitching making state funds available for schools to help pay for them.

Mathews said he knows Republicans aren’t considered the “big spending party,” but that he thinks society is at a “time and place” where a conversation should be had about funding this security measure, for public and private schools.

Some Republican lawmakers toured Lakeville Area Schools after the Annunciation shooting. The district has enhanced security measures like 3D Response Systems. Mathews said a tour guide told them during the visit that “in his many long years of law enforcement experience, he had never heard of a bank being robbed that had a squad car at the parking lot.”

Honestly, this should be the least controversial suggestion we’re likely to ever see in the wake of a school shooting. As the tour guide said, when there’s a known police presence, the odds of something going sideways are lessened.

It’s not eliminated, though.

After all, Parkland was one of the most notorious school shootings of the 21st Century, and there was a school resource officer there. Of course, from what Ryan Petty told me–and he was one parent involved in the investigation into the shooting–that particular school was considered a coasting assignment and the officer, Scot Peterson, was basically Retired On Active Duty (ROAD). This was not a typical case.

There have been others, though, where a school resource officer stopped a school shooting before the body count could get too high.

Now, as for Annunciation Catholic School, well, it’s a private school. I don’t know if increased funding would benefit such schools, which could make them more attractive targets for mass killers, since they won’t have SROs present. That will be something that would need to be addressed.

Still, this is a solid proposal with few downsides, if any.

The only thing that might work against it is the Democratic hatred of law enforcement. In that case, though, it’ll be a tactical win since Walz and his allies will have to express that anti-cop sentiment, which a lot of people might not appreciate.

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