CNN Newsroom: Interview With Governor Tim Walz (D-MN) About The State's New Gun Laws

Interview

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Well, I think we all know, Jim, we've seen it across the country, Newton to Uvalde, and it goes on and on every single day. And we know that there are things like these two pieces of legislation make a difference. And so if we make an impact on one of these shootings or if we get the firearms out of the hands of someone who was going to commit suicide, which we know especially for men is what they will do.

That's a win. And these things have nothing to do with a threat to the Second Amendment. This is totally about safety of our children and our citizens, and as a 24-year veteran and a lifelong hunter and gun owner, I'm not impacted negatively at all on this. And I think we need to take that narrative back. Responsible gun owners that do believe that you can have them responsibly. We need to lean into it. So I'm just proud that Minnesota were finally able to do it.

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Yes, we are. We've seen this happen in other states but these are rock solid. We know that people have the rights to use the judicial branch and law enforcement to use the tools to take these away at the short time but you petition and can get them back. And we've heard countless stories of families who are incredibly grateful that their loved one got the help they needed, got over the crisis they were at, and then got those firearms back.

The bottom line is 80 percent of Minnesotans agree with this. The only reason it hasn't been done decades ago as it should have been is we didn't have control of the state's Senate. Last year's election in November changed everything. So here in Minnesota, we saw, you know, one or two vote senators holding up any hearing, any conversation, anything and offering thoughts and prayers once a week, you know, and then moving on.

Well, those days are over. Americans expect better, we should demand better. We don't -- there is no reason that we should not be the outlier of all countries and in Minnesota we're leaning into it to make sure that we're doing our part to protect our citizens.

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Yes, I'm going to. I've been involved in this, Jim, for many years. I served on the Veterans Affair Committee in Congress for a dozen years, and we passed the first piece of legislation on medicinal cannabis to help us move away from the opioid addictions that we saw with our returning soldiers. And we know that prohibition doesn't work, and with the issues of contamination of fentanyl and xylazine, and things we're seeing show up on street, cannabis, it doesn't make any sense.

And so we're going to allow people to grow it at home. I trust adults to make their own decisions. We're talking about freedoms. You make your own health care decisions in Minnesota. We're not going to tell you how to deal with your children. We're going to allow teachers to teach. We're not going to ban books and we certainly believe that prohibition on cannabis is long overdue and we'll get that out there. We'll have it legally -- the regime will be in place to make sure that we're safe, the things that are being sold to folks, and we'll use the resources from the tax revenue to help educate people on addiction which we know is ravaging, you know, people across the country.

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Yes.

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Yes, I'm worried about it. It's the Black Swan event. Our economy is clicking along and created 4500 jobs. We got the lowest unemployment rate we've ever seen. Our exports are way up. People are bouncing back from the pandemic. And this is out there.

And look, Jim, I served in Congress for 12 years. I was asked by President Bush to vote for the debt ceiling raise, I was asked by President Obama, and I was asked by President Trump and his people saying it is irresponsible not to raise this. And I voted for those things. Because that's what responsible members do. And as governor, this one terrifies me.

I was out in D.C. with my former colleagues in January and they were puppies and Rambos about this and I'm telling you I watched John Boehner, I watched Paul Ryan both leave Congress over these issues because they couldn't control their anarchists on their side of the aisle. So our folks need to get this done. I'm worried about it. I think the impact is catastrophic at a time when we don't need it. And anybody who believes this is anything but theatrics, it is irresponsible legislating.

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Thanks, Jim.

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