It is to laugh

Governor Walz has announced an intention to call a special session of the Legislature to confront serious gun safety issues in the wake of the carnage at Annunciation Church and School. Stalwart Republican representative Wally Hudson is aghast that it might really be about guns.

I mean, seriously? says the spittle-flecked Wally in his piece in the Star Tribune.

Assault weapons bans, large capacity magazine limitations, more robust background checks and red flag laws? Surely you jest, says Wally.

Wally undoubtedly prefers the Republican approach:

House Speaker Lisa Demuth (R-Cold Spring) and GOP Leader Harry Niska (R-Ramsey) focused on mental health, funding to non-public schools and mandatory minimum sentences for repeat gun criminals as the key part of their plan.

They really don’t mention guns much, do they?

If we focused on the mental health of angry white men — well, and Wally, too — I’d be on board. But no, we’ll concentrate on the vanishingly small percentage of trans people who commit mass shooting crimes.

There aren’t that many mass-shooting “repeat gun criminals” because they are usually dead, either killed by law enforcement or by their own hand. A stiffer sentence is hardly a deterrent.

The whole thing is just Rob Doar inspired foolishness.

Let’s look a little at what Wally really says:

This is a sham [the call for a special session]. The Minnesota House is evenly split: 67 Republicans, 67 Democrats. Rules negotiated after the 2024 elections require bipartisan agreement for any bill to advance. Committee co-chairs and caucus leaders must align or bills die. In a special session, every bill restarts — drafted, introduced and vetted anew. Without prior consensus, nothing passes.

A faster path exists: A supermajority of 90 votes can suspend rules for immediate floor consideration. But with our 67-67 split, this requires crossover support Walz hasn’t pursued. If he were serious about protecting children, he’d negotiate with all caucuses to secure a signed agreement before calling a session. Instead, he’s orchestrating chaos — random motions and doomed bills — for political optics.

This isn’t incompetence; it’s calculation. Walz’s focus isn’t Minnesota’s safety but power. His camera-ready announcements, followed by afterthought outreach to Republicans, reveal his intent: a stunt, not a solution. Using dead children to force divisive votes is reprehensible.

Wally writes bad doublespeak copy from 1984. Wally’s “faster path” is a path to no meaningful action at all. By Governor Walz calling the session without an agreement with people who don’t want one, we’ll at least know why there is no action. The Republicans would never agree to anything meaningful. Wally calls it “calculation;” I call it transparency.

What Wally is really afraid of is that he and his Republican pals will be revealed, during a special session, naked as jaybirds (don’t think about that image too much), before the voters as gun-sucking idiots. Which, regrettably, they are.

Regrettable also is the fact that although Wally Hudson, the Representative from Discount Shopping, may not be dislodged, some of his more vulnerable fellow travelers may be.

Really, not so regrettable.

Update 9/12: Really, Polonius would have been a better name.

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It is to laugh

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