Commissioner urges public‑health approach to gun violence after report of local school shooting

A county commissioner told the Olmsted County Board of Commissioners that a recent school shooting involving local children left them feeling helpless and urged the county and state to consider a public-health approach to gun violence.

“I don’t like feeling helpless, and I feel like a citizen and the county commissioner. I feel helpless that our society does not wanna take care of this problem,” the commissioner said, adding that the county lacks capacity to care for people with severe mental-health concerns and that the community needs to consider ways to keep firearms from people who are dangerous.

The commissioner said the state’s public-health organizations could be the vehicle to frame and advance policy solutions, drawing a parallel to how public health led anti-smoking efforts. “The only organization that has ever solved a problem is public health,” the commissioner said, and suggested public health agencies could formulate legislation and move it to the legislature.

How the matter arose: the commissioner said they were at another meeting when they received a text from a family member that a shooting had occurred at a school and that family members were involved; the commissioner described assisting with the immediate response and learning of children who were hospitalized and two fatalities.

No formal board action was taken on the commissioner’s remarks; the comments were raised during the board and committee reports portion of the meeting. The commissioner named public-health staff members (Denise and Shager) and thanked them and others in public health for their work but said public-health staff were already overburdened.

The commissioner urged further discussion about how the county and state agencies could respond, but the transcript contains no motion, referral or staff directive stemming from the comments.