RESOURCE: Talking Points About Guns
Our series on gun violence prevention made possible by the underwriting support of Protect Minnesota.
If you want to understand some of the data, and viewpoints from those engaged in public safety, we have compiled a few news items here.
Top Reason for Gun Violence
In the new book, Unforgiving Places: The Unexpected Origins of American Gun Violence, author and economist Jens Ludwig writes about his two decades of research from the south side of Chicago into answering two questions: Why does gun violence happen, and is there anything we can do about it? The book publicity from University of Chicago Press says:
“Disproving the popular narrative that shootings are the calculated acts of malicious or desperate people, Ludwig shows how most shootings actually grow out of a more fleeting source: interpersonal conflict, especially arguments. By examining why some arguments turn tragic while others don’t, Ludwig shows gun violence to be more circumstantial — and more solvable — than our traditional approaches lead us to believe.”
A Doctor at the Scene of the Annunciation Shooting Speaks Out
“Patients had blood on them, and we didn’t know whose blood it was because we quickly found out they were jumping on top of each other to protect each other.”
“There are other studies that say the banning of certain weapons decreases the number of victims and severity of injury when there is a mass shooting. And by all intents and purposes, that’s our goal: fewer victims with less severe injuries.”
About the hospital-based violence interruption program called NextStep: “These are programs that work with survivors of violence, and they do tremendous work to fold them back into the world — everything from support groups to helping cover funerals or hospital bills or apartment fees. These programs so often have to fight for their grant funding every six months, which creates wild instability. And again, if you follow the evidence, these programs work.”
“People talk about their right to own these weapons. Well, I would argue that those kids at Annunciation have a right to go to church and not be shot at. Our teachers have a right to go to school and be educators and not have to badge through bulletproof windows. I have a right to do my job and not have to go to a church full of children who were just shot. There are other rights in this world. So, if we want to make it about rights, I love that argument. But we have a right to the greater good, not just about what one person does or does not get to own.”
Good Guys With Guns Kill Innocent Bystander
A “No Kings” rally in Salt Lake City was interrupted by gunfire that killed protester Arthur “Afa” Folasa Ah Loo, a beloved fashion designer and former “Project Runway” contestant. The case illustrates the limits of the gun lobby’s myth that “the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.”
As much as any shooting could possibly be, the one that killed Ah Loo appears to have been well-intentioned. Matthew Scott Alder, the man charged with firing the fatal shot, was part of a volunteer safety team, and like some other members of the team, he was armed. Arturo Gamboa, a fellow protester, was openly carrying a rifle, which friends said was not unusual for him to do at protests. According to charging documents, when Alder and another safety team member saw Gamboa break from the crowd, they told Gamboa to drop his weapon. When he did not, Alder fired three shots, killing Ah Loo and injuring Gamboa. Alder has said he feared Gamboa was about to commit a mass shooting.
Ah Loo [an innocent bystander] was killed because there were two people with guns who were, by all accounts, afraid of each other, and one of them pulled the trigger.
— Sunny Sone, The Trace, December 2025
Some Social Media Posts We’re Resharing
The Trace Has Data
Trace’s gun violence map includes data of firearm shootings (not including suicides), collected since January 2014, aggregated as
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Minnesota’s domestic violence homicides by firearm since 2014 (source: The Trace)
Mass shooting: A shooting in which four or more people, not including the shooter, were killed or injured.
- Accidental: An unintentional shooting.
- Officer involved: An incident in which a police officer shot or killed a subject.
- Child involved: A shooting in which the shooter and/or the victim were children.
- Domestic violence: A shooting involving domestic violence.
- Drive-by: A shooting that occured from a vehicle.
Incidents can be filtered and aggregated by state, city, county, and congressional district.
A story from The Trace about what Austria did after a school shooting in 2025.
Gun Suicides Growing Among Elders
Facts About Firearm Deaths in Minnesota
A report analyzing 2018 to 2023 data, created by Protect Minnesota and the Violence Policy Center, indicates that three of four gun deaths in Minnesota are because of suicide. Gun Death in Minnesota: A Six-Year Trend Analysis, finds that Minnesota has the lowest overall firearm death rate among Great Lakes states, but especially affects Black Minnesotans and those in Greater Minnesota. Some of the findings, according to Protect Minnesota:
- More than 3,000 Minnesotans lost their lives to firearms over the six-year period
- Firearm suicide rates are consistently higher in Greater Minnesota compared to the Twin Cities.
- Firearm homicide rates spiked during the pandemic (2020–2021), particularly among youth and young adults as well as Black Minnesotans.
- in 2023, Black Minnesotans were 26 times more likely than white Minnesotans to die by firearm homicide. And while only 7.6 percent of the state’s population is Black, more than half of the state’s firearm homicide deaths occurred in the Black population in 2023 (57.8 percent).
- Between 2018 and 2021, the percentage of all homicides in the state committed with firearms increased from 54.1 percent to 70.7 percent and then dropped to 65.0 percent in 2023.
Protect Minnesota policy recommendations:
- Enact and enforce safe storage laws to reduce suicides, unintentional shootings, and thefts that funnel guns into illegal markets.
- Require the reporting of lost and stolen firearms to help law enforcement track weapons and reduce gun trafficking.
- Allow cities and counties to implement protections that reflect the unique needs of their communities.
- Ban ghost guns and increase industry accountability to address the growing threat of untraceable firearms and ensure that manufacturers cannot evade responsibility when negligence contributes to harm.
- Restrict guns in polling places and government buildings to safeguard civic spaces and ensure Minnesotans can participate in democracy free from intimidation or fear.
Minnesota’s Ammunition Industry
An April 2025 story by Minnesota Reformer’s Alyssa Cheng reported: “Minnesota is the top producer of rifle ammunition for immigration enforcement, with over $28 million in contracts since 2020. That number is driven largely by the Kinetic Group, formerly Vista Outdoors, a Czech-owned ammunition manufacturer based in Anoka, with over $6 million in active contracts with ICE.”
Correlation Between Guns and Violent Crimes
In 2022, the Minneapolis Police Department confiscated 1,097 guns. With fewer guns, there were fewer shots fired in 2022, as indicated by a 30 percent drop in both Shotspotter activations and shots detected. Violent crimes in Minneapolis decreased significantly from the previous year, with robberies and carjackings down nearly 19 percent and homicides dropping by 17 percent.
Tracking Gun Violence Data
Everytown Labs launched EveryShot in March 2025, an AI-powered tool that tracks gun violence incidents across the U.S. in near-real time. The interactive platform uses information from thousands of public news sources and AI technology to analyze gun violence data, covering over 75 variables such as dates, locations, shooting types, and information on victims and suspects. EveryShot provides sortable data to offer insights into gun violence patterns.
Firearms and Children
Firearm-related deaths among children and teenagers in the United States continue to be the leading cause of death among American youth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. An extensive report by Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions indicated that 48,204 people died from gunshots in the U.S. in 2022, including 27,032 suicides.
The “Good Guys With a Gun” Argument
In 2023, with the ERPO law was being discussed by the legislature, Rachel Joseph testified about the murder of her aunt at the Hennepin County Government Center, who was killed by a distant relative who had been threatening her aunt for months. She said: “Despite documentation of this person’s erratic, terrifying, and dangerous behavior, my aunt’s stalker was able to show up to a Minnesota gun show, pay a private seller $60, and walk out with a .38 revolver. She then used that gun to shoot my aunt’s lawyer in the throat at point blank range. Then she used it to hunt and murder my aunt in a courthouse bathroom. Had Shelley been able to go before a civil court to seek an Extreme Risk Protective Order, her killer may have never gained access to that gun.”
Joseph added, “Shelley’s murderer chose to use a gun for a reason. No one was able to help my aunt Shelley. Not the armed deputy who was there that day, not the security guard who ran away when he saw the gun. The presence of good guys with guns didn’t make my aunt Shelley safer.”
Thoughts on Public Safety Standards
In November 2023, Attorney General Keith Ellison spoke at a Humanist gathering. Some of his thoughts:
“In most organizations, you have 10 percent of the people who will do the right thing, even if nobody’s looking. They don’t do the right thing because they’re afraid of getting caught; they do the right thing because it is the right thing to do. Another 10 percent don’t do the right thing unless they are afraid that will get in trouble. You are in jobs, neighborhoods, families — you know there’s a certain group that needs to be watched. Then, most people are in the big mushy middle. If the “do right people” are getting promoted and being lifted up in leadership and being honored, then the culture of the mushy middle is going to incline in that direction. But if the racists and bullies and people with questionable morality seem to be running the show, the culture of the organization shifts.”
“It’s not like we have to tolerate police brutality or we won’t be safe. .. If we want to recruit good people, if we want to build trust, we have to have higher standards. My father, who is 95 years young, loved to say ‘son, it is just as good to see a bad one go as to see a good one come.’ You can do addition by subtraction.”
“We’re suing Fleet Farm because they were negligently selling guns. You can legally sell a gun, but Fleet Farm was negligently selling them. A 26-year-old woman, Marquisha Wiley, was killed in Saint Paul [as a bystander in a shooting event between two men that wounded 15]. The gun was bought from a straw purchaser named Jerome Burton, who bought about 37 guns from Fleet Farm in a few weeks. Even employees thought he was up to no good, but management said if they have the money, they get the gun. A straw purchaser is someone who has a clean record, buys guns, and sells them to people who don’t have a clean record.
So the shooters are in prison. The straw purchaser is going to prison. But what about Fleet Farm? They get to walk away?”
Saint Paul Announces Proposed Gun Violence Prevention Ordinance
The City of Saint Paul published language for a proposed gun violence prevention ordinance. If passed, the proposed ordinance would strengthen Saint Paul’s ability to address illegal and dangerous firearm activity. The Council will hold a public hearing on November 5. The proposed ordinance seeks five stipulations:
- Ban the public possession of assault weapons, large-capacity magazines, and binary triggers within city limits
- Prohibit untraceable “ghost guns,” by requiring all firearms to have serial numbers
- Restrict firearms in sensitive public spaces, such as parks, libraries, recreation centers, and city buildings
- Require clear signage in public facilities to inform residents of restrictions and encourage compliance
- Define enforcement authority and penalties—to take effect only if the state repeals or amends preemption law
The cities of Minneapolis, Bloomington, Brooklyn Center, Columbia Heights, Eden Prairie, Golden Valley, Hopkins, Minnetonka, Mounds View, Richfield, Rochester, Shoreview, Saint Louis Park, Stillwater, and West Saint Paul will work to advance similar ordinances through their local legislative processes.
City leaders continue urging state lawmakers to lift the preemption ban and pass comprehensive policies. Coalition partners also include the University of Minnesota Law School Gun Violence Prevention Clinic, the Minnesota Chapter of Moms Demand Action, Protect Minnesota, Everytown for Gun Safety, GIFFORDS, Face to Face Academy, and local constituents and community advocates.
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To support our unique coverage:
For 2025 coverage, Minnesota Women’s Press earned a community leadership award, three photography awards, and four editorial awards, including for coverage of social issues and for our Spring 2025 “Know Your Rights” special section supported by Unidos MN. Our publisher was named Journalist of the Year by Violence Free Minnesota for gender-based violence coverage.