(WASHINGTON) — GOP Majority Whip Rep. Tom Emmer said Sunday that Minnesota laws should have prevented the suspect from purchasing a gun that allowed them to kill two children and wound more than a dozen other people in a shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Emmer’s home state.
“Look, this young man was seriously mentally disabled, deranged. Somebody had to know,” Emmer told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz, adding “clearly this young man was crying out for help. Why was no one hearing him?”
Emmer said the shooter “never should have had access or been able to possess a firearm based on what little we already know,” adding that somebody who knew the shooter had to have known about Minnesota’s so-called “red flag” law.
“What that’s all about is, it’s usually used by a parent or, a law enforcement officer to go to the court and get an order that this individual, because of their emotional state, the mental, challenges that they have, the mental illness, cannot, should not, possess a firearm because they be a danger to themselves and or others,” Emmer said.
Investigators found the shooter’s notebooks, written in a combination of English, Cyrillic and other languages and showing thoughts of violence and grievances. According to Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O’Hara, the notebooks filled with the shooter’s thoughts possessed “lot of hate towards a wide variety of people and groups of people.” The acting U.S. attorney for the District of Minnesota said the only group of people the shooter admired were “mass murderers.”
Emmer also cited mental health as an issue and lack of resources in school as contributing to gun violence in the U.S. However, Emmer notably voted against the 2022 Bipartisan School Safety Act that Congress passed after 21 people, including 19 children, were killed by a mass shooter at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.
The bill was considered the most significant action the legislature had taken to tackle gun violence in decades. It allocated hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds for school districts to enhance safety and mental health resources.
When asked why he voted against the legislation, Emmer said, “I don’t remember the reasons that I didn’t vote for that bill.” Emmer added that the “root cause” cause of violence must be identified to stop violence.
Here are more highlights from Emmer’s Interview:
On the victims of the church shooting
Emmer: As you know, there were 20 that were injured. Eighteen of them are still being treated, 15 children and three adults in, according to the folks in Minneapolis, all are expected to survive. I think Chief O’Hara, the Minneapolis police chief, told us yesterday that all the victims are expected to survive. But, Martha, just because they survive, the trauma that all of these kids, the families that lost their two children, all the kids and the adults that were injured, and every one of them that was at that Mass and, frankly, in the community, is going to be dealing with this for a long time.
On law enforcement in churches and schools
Raddatz: And Congressman, in the short term, or maybe the long term, should law enforcement increase its presence in schools and places of worship? I know the governor has deployed them now.
Emmer: Yes, well, thanks a lot, Governor. He — yes, the answer is, yes. The Catholic community, along with other faith-based schools in this area, just a couple of years ago, when Tim Walz and the legislature were blowing through an $18 billion surplus, they asked for some of those resources, Martha, to — for improving security in their schools. It was after the — the very sad incident in Kentucky. What did Tim Walz do? Absolutely nothing. So, it — it’s — yes, it’s going to be very important that these schools have the resources.
The other thing that you have to look at, Minneapolis, because of these crazy policies that the governor, the young mayor, the progressive, if that’s what you want to call her, county attorney, the Minneapolis school board, back in 2020, said — they voted out having a Minneapolis policeman as a resource officer on the school property. I think we’ve got to go back and rethink these things. What works? What doesn’t work? And we’ve got to start improving our game.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.