As a member of Congress, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was known as a champion of the Second Amendment. But a mass shooting convinced him that America needs tighter gun control, he has said.
Now, on the campaign trail as Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s pick for vice president, Walz touts his rural upbringing on a midwestern farm as the place he learned to use guns. He points to 24 years of service in the Minnesota Army National Guard as proof he knows what it means to carry a gun.
He also acknowledges that his stance on gun control has changed. He warns Republicans that they will face a backlash from voters if they don’t support sensible gun laws.
The Epoch Times has reached out to the Harris/Walz campaign and the Minnesota governor’s office for comment.
Some gun rights activists say the farm boy from Nebraska, who cut his political teeth standing up for gun rights in the U.S. House of Representatives, has turned his back on the very gun owners who helped put him in office.
“Tim Walz cannot be trusted to protect the rights of hunters and peaceable gun owners,” Randy Kozuch, executive director of the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), wrote in a statement to The Epoch Times.
The rift between Walz and the NRA didn’t always exist.
Walz began his political career in 2006 when he was elected to represent Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District. He held that post until 2018 when he was elected governor of Minnesota, the state he and his family moved to in 1994.
For most of his congressional career, Walz was staunchly pro-Second Amendment.
He cosponsored legislation to reform the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF). Critics of the ATF said the bill would protect the rights of federal firearms license holders.
Walz supported the Sportsmen’s Heritage And Recreational Enhancement Act. The law opened public lands for hunting and fishing, and removed lead ammunition and fishing gear from the list of prohibited toxic substances.
Walz also cosponsored the Recreational Lands Self-Defense Act, which would allow the carrying of firearms on recreational lands controlled by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in accordance with the laws of the state the land is in.
In 2011, Walz co-sponsored the “National Right to Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011.”
The bill, introduced by Reb. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), would require states to recognize concealed weapons permits issued by other states.
Stance Changes
But on Oct. 1, 2017, Walz’s about-face began.On that evening, a 64-year-old man, whom the FBI said was unhappy with Las Vegas casinos, opened fire on an estimated 22,000 people attending the Rt 91 Harvest Festival on the Las Vegas Strip. The killer reportedly fired more than 1,000 rounds from the broken window of his 32nd-floor hotel room.
The incident left 58 dead, 413 wounded, and more than 860 injured. The carnage ended when the gunman shot himself.
In 2018, as Walz campaigned for governor, he said his daughter motivated him to change course.
“Hope woke up like many of you did five weeks ago and said, ‘Dad, you’re the only person I know who’s in elected office. You need to stop what’s happening,’” Walz said.
Shortly after the shooting, Walz cosponsored H.R. 1832, the “Funding the CDC for Firearms Safety Research for Gun Violence Prevention Act.”
He also cosponsored H.R. 1478, the “Gun Violence Research Act.” This bill would lift the prohibition on federal funding “to advocate or promote gun control.”
Walz then said he cut ties with the NRA, donated its campaign donations to charity, and began fighting for gun control. When he was elected governor, he took his fight to Minnesota.
While Walz has pushed for tighter gun laws, the Legislature has voted against most of his efforts.
On March 24, 2023, he signed a ban on triggers that can increase a gun’s rate of fire, but other bills fell short.
These included gun storage requirements, bans on so-called “large capacity magazines,” restrictions on where guns can be carried, requirements to report lost or stolen guns within 48 hours, a state ban on “semiautomatic military-style assault weapons,” and a ban on the use of lead ammunition or fishing tackle by hunters and fishermen.
At a March 2023 press conference to discuss the failed legislation, Walz warned that Republicans would face a backlash over their opposition.
“You are not going to frame this, that this is taking your guns, because I’m going to frame it that you’re not sticking up for our children,” he said.
For their part, state Republicans at the time said existing laws can be better used to tackle the issue.
“Rather than an extreme all-or-nothing approach on guns, we can and should come together to protect lives with ideas that everyone supports, and that we know will work,” Republican State Senator Mark Johnson said.
