In the News

WASHINGTON – Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) joined ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday to discuss the deadly shooting that took place at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis.

Click here or above to watch Whip Emmer on ABC News’ “This Week.”

Whip Emmer on the shooting:

“Our hearts are broken and our prayers are with the families, the two families that lost their children. As you know, there were 20 that were injured. 18 of them are still being treated – 15 children and three adults, according to the folks in Minneapolis. All are expected to survive. I think Chief O'Hara, the Minneapolis Police Chief, told us yesterday that all the victims are expected to survive. But Martha, just because they survive, the trauma that all of these kids, the families that lost their two children, all the kids and the adults that were injured and every one of them that was at that mass, and frankly the community, is going to be dealing with for a long time.”

Whip Emmer on the need to address mental health:

“This is an area that I've actually worked on in Congress, Martha. The mental health crisis in this country is one of the main problems that we are faced with today – exacerbated by the pandemic, exacerbated by the internet, and all the rest. And we've got to figure out how to deal with it. But people do have options. The key is that when you identify someone – maybe it's in your family, maybe it's a friend, maybe it's in your neighborhood, your support group, whatever your network is – you can report that to the appropriate authorities, your concern. It's not trying to tattle on someone. It's literally trying to help them. This person may need some help. And we've got another thing in this state, Martha, which I don't understand, and we're going to find out more because this young man never should have had access or been able to possess a firearm based on what little we already know. And somebody who had to know that there's a red flag law in this state. And what that's all about is it's usually used by a parent or a law enforcement officer to go to the court and get an order that this individual – because of their emotional state, the mental challenges that they have, the mental illness – cannot, should not possess a firearm because they'd be a danger to themselves and or others.”

Whip Emmer on Tim Walz and the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party:

“The Catholic community, along with other faith-based schools in this area, just a couple of years ago when Tim Walz and the legislature were blowing through an $18 billion surplus, they asked for some of those resources, Martha, for improving security in their schools. It was after the very sad incident in [Tennessee]. What did Tim Walz do? Absolutely nothing. So yes, it's going to be very important that these schools have the resources. The other thing that you have to look at, Minneapolis – because of these crazy policies that the governor, the young mayor, the progressive, if that's what you want to call her, county attorney – the Minneapolis school board back in 2020 said they voted out having a Minneapolis policeman as a resource officer on the school property. I think we've got to go back and rethink these things – what works, what doesn't work. And we've got to start improving our game because it's going to be really important.”

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