State Watch

Minnesota Democrats stage sit-in over gun violence bill vote

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by Sophie Brams - 05/15/26 11:22 AM ET

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by Sophie Brams - 05/15/26 11:22 AM ET

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Democratic state lawmakers in Minnesota are staging a sit-in inside the state House chambers following the party-line defeat of a motion Thursday to bring a gun reform measure to the floor.

The protest is expected to last until members return for business at noon Saturday at the call of Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth, according to The Minnesota Star Tribune.

“Until we hold the vote, we will sit,” state Rep. Liish Kozlowski, a member of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) from Duluth, said Thursday, urging colleagues to join.

“Together we can sit, sing, stand, do a healing dance, and we can vote,” Kozlowski added, according to the newspaper. “It’s OK to change your mind. Show us your courage, let us leave this gun violence behind.”

Democrats are demanding a vote on a Senate-approved bill that would implement several gun control measures, including a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

The legislation was introduced after a mass shooting at a Catholic church in Minneapolis last August that left two children dead and 21 others injured. It also came after former state House Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband were killed in a June shooting at their home.

A procedural motion to advance the bill to the floor failed in a party-line vote late Thursday night, and Demuth adjourned the session. It seemed poised for defeat after state Rep. Harry Niska, the GOP floor leader from Anoka, signaled Republicans would oppose it, according to the Star Tribune.

“Minnesotans, see through your theater,” Niska reportedly said. “This bill is not ready, no matter how urgent the problem is, to pass.”

Tensions reached a boiling point late that night when two lawmakers, state Reps. Aisha Gomez (D) and Elliott Engen (R), got into a heated exchange that included shouting and finger-pointing.

Gomez can be heard yelling “think of them, not yourself” in videos posted to social media, but the rest of the conversation is unclear.

Engen claimed in a post on the social platform X that Gomez told him to “go f’ing shoot myself.” GOP leaders said Gomez “verbally accosted” her colleague; they called for her removal as tax chair.

“This kind of behavior is unacceptable, and it makes every person in this place less safe,” Demuth said. “Someone willing to spew hate and accost colleagues is unfit to serve as a leader in Minnesota.”

Gomez disputed the accusations in a statement to local television outlet FOX 9, describing them as a “total fabrication” of her words.

“At no point did I say what the right-wing media would have you believe was said,” she said.

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