House Speaker Paul Thissen
The Minnesota House will not vote on expanding gun background checks to private sales or on any other gun legislation this year, House Speaker Paul Thissen said Wednesday.
Coping with a deeply divided DFL caucus, Thissen told the Star Tribune that despite months of work, legislators and advocates remain too polarized to allow any compromise.
“Neither side has been willing to come to an agreement,” said Thissen, a Minneapolis DFLer. “Because of the intensity on both sides of the issue, even some common-sense solutions can’t be agreed upon right now.”
His decision left those who had been working for passage steaming.
“I’m very disappointed, very angry,” said Rep. Michael Paymar, the committee chairman who shepherded the gun measures through tough, emotional hearings. The St. Paul DFLer said Thissen had pledged to him that “he wanted to do something about gun violence. He committed to me we would have a vote, we would have a debate on the floor.”
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