MINNESOTA NEEDS TO END GUN VIOLENCE

Como resident Dave Hammer, who lives in Minnesota House District 66B, submitted a speech he gave at the Capitol Rotunda. This is part of it.
Let us bow our heads in a moment of silent prayer, asking that whatever action taken, sets Minnesota on a path to end this type of violence. ..
Two children were killed and 18 were injured at Annunciation Church in August of this year. Families were shattered and the rest of us stunned beyond belief. It was the worst of scenes. Worse yet is that scenes like this have happened before. It seemed that the killing of children at Columbine, April 20, 1999, created such as stir that this type of thing would never happen again. ‘Never again!’ was said in our hearts, from our lips, and in the media reports! But it did just happen again … and in our community!
Before moving forward, we need to look back and realize that, in addition to Annunciation and Columbine, there were other children killed:
• Columbine, April 20, 1999, 16 killed by former student
• Sandy Hook, Dec.14, 2012, 26 killed by former student
• Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Feb. 14, 2018, 17 killed by former student
• Robb Elementary, Uvalde, May 24, 2022, 21 killed by expelled student
• Annunciation, Aug. 27, 2025, 2 killed by former student
... since Columbine, there have been over 400 incidents resulting in 203 deaths and 441 injuries. We keep saying one is too many but it does happen again … and again. Schools are not the only places where killings occur making loss of life by the hands of others even more staggering. ...
One needs to remember: Things left undone can sometimes be as bad as things done. Every day we ‘wait’ for something to happen is a day wasted and may put another life at risk.
As the airport signs say, “If you see something, say something. Take action to help somebody so that Minnesota can find answers and America may follow our lead.
Legislative conversations need to be about helping people. The … people, programs, and processes ... and the futures of our people.