ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Republican House speaker Lisa Demuth, refused to allow a vote on a stronger firearms bill in the closing moments of the 2026 Minnesota Legislature. In effect Demuth’s intransigence killed what had been a Democratic priority in the 120-day legislative session. Also killed without a House vote was a Democratic bill to provide relief for businesses and individuals affected negatively by President Tump’s Operation Metro Surge. At midnight Demuth gaveled the 2026 session to its end. That was “all she wrote,” as the rock band FireHouse sang in their namesake 1991 album. As the clock was ticking toward the constitutionally mandated adjournment, the Democratic House floor leader, Jamie Long, asked Demuth whether she was delaying votes on Democrat-favored bills. Demuth responded that the issues were “being reviewed.” Long persisted: “Can you confirm that the reason we were unable to vote on the comprehensive gun violence prevention package and the comprehensive response to Operation Metro Surge is that you have held the bills and not released them?” Demuth answered: “That is not true,” Long asked her why it was not true. Demuth did not answer. At the stroke of midnight GOP House floor leader Harry Niska intervened and made a motion to recess.
Cast in House drama
Lisa Demuth, Republican from old Spring in Stearns County. She is the leading GOP candidate for governor.
Jamie Long, a Democrat from Minneapolis.
Harry Niska, a Democrat from Cook Rapids in Anoka County.
Walz agenda
Governor Tim Walz , a Democrat, had attempted to call a special session of the Legislature to consider ser stiffer gun conrols after a mass shooting n August at Anunciation at Church nd School in Minneapolis. Republicans wouldn’t agree ti a a special session. When the regular session of the Legislature convened in February, a bill was drafted to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. The bill also included millions of dollars for school-based mental health programs and an anonymous threat reporting system. The Senate approved the bill last week. But Republicans in the House, claimed the bill failed to address basic questions about how it would work. The fate of the bill in the Huse was uncertain. The House is an even67-67 split between Democrats and Republicans. The House GOP leadership decided to delay a vute so its mebers would noy have to answer fo yea-or-nay vote in their next election.
Capitol showdown
Democrats held a 36-hour sit-in on the House floor to demand that Demuth bring up the gun control package. Lawmakers began the sit-in at 9 p.m. on Saturday and and vowed to stay until the House was gaveled back into session. Throughout the sit-in the Democrats streamed messages on their social media pages to hundreds of gun control advocates demonstrating utside the Capitol.
A family of two minds
Demuth’s adult daughter participated in the pro-gun control public demonstration outside the Capitol during the House sit-in inside. Shelis Demuth said her hope was that her mother would bring the gun control package up for a vote but understood hopes for passage were limited because House committees had deadlocked between the two parties. Said the Demuth daughter: “My mom prides herself on being fair, and that might mean that it does have to wait ‘till next session.” That would be in 2027. As ironic as ji may seem, Demuth’s four children were aenrolled at the Rocori school in her Cold Spring hometown during a 2003 school shooting.
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