Lawmakers stage multi-day sit-in urging House vote on Senate gun-violence package

State Rep. Chrissy Purcell led lawmakers and allies in a prolonged sit-in on the Minnesota House floor, urging Speaker DeMuth to "take action to prevent the next act of gun violence" by bringing a Senate-passed gun-violence package to a House vote.

Purcell said the lawmakers and supporters had been holding the floor for more than a day to force a vote and to "bring the voices from outside the Capitol into the Capitol," calling for an assault-weapons ban and limits on high-capacity magazines as part of a broader package. "We are doing everything that we can to do something to do anything to take action to prevent the next act of gun violence," she said.

Sen. Ron Lats, chair of the Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee, described the measure that the Senate approved 34–33 and urged House leaders to act. "It was about the assault weapons. It was about the magazine capacity limits. It was about binary triggers. It was about Unserialized 3 D Printing Ghost guns. It was about safe and secure storage," he said, summarizing the bill's components. Lats also said the state’s red-flag law has been used "over 400 times" to remove firearms from people in crisis.

Lats further stated that Speaker DeMuth is a "protected party" in a court red-flag order and framed that fact as inconsistent with declining to schedule the vote. That assertion was presented as a claim in the chamber; no response from House leadership is recorded in the transcript.

Other lawmakers described testimony and pleas from families, medical professionals and students. Rep. Julie Green said the sit-in created an opportunity for doctors and trauma workers "to tell us why this is important," describing the strain of treating gunshot victims. A member identifying herself as representing South Minneapolis urged the speaker to "open the drawer, take up the bill and hold the vote," saying there were only hours left in the legislative session and that families demanded action.

Speakers cited national and local impacts, including a reference to "over 150 mass shootings" in the last 10 years, and framed the package as a comprehensive set of policies that pairs firearms restrictions with school-safety and mental-health measures. Several speakers said they would keep up pressure on leadership and suggested taking the issue to voters if the House refuses to act.

The sit-in organizers said they would continue their action through the remaining hours of the session; the transcript ends with lawmakers pledging to press onward and "not stop fighting until" the measures are taken up or until political remedies are pursued.

The House did not record a formal vote on the Senate package during the segments in this transcript; no motion or tally is recorded here.