On December 16, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) issued two executive orders to advocate for gun control. Walz never did get the special session on curbing Minnesotan’s freedom that he desired, so he opted to censure law-abiding residents who own guns as best he can.
The first executive order creates an “educational” campaign to promote the state’s “red flag” laws and mandatory storage scheme and it directs the state’s Department of Commerce to collect data from insurance companies on the “costs of gun violence.” So, this one focuses on creating state-sponsored propaganda.
But it is more than that, as this order also states: “I urge our legislators to pass comprehensive gun violence prevention legislation as soon as the legislative session begins. This includes a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.”
So then, this is direct gun-control advocacy. The former candidate for vice president of the United States wants to ban America’s most-popular rifle—a design first sold to the American public in January 1964.
“The stated goal of the order is to increase public awareness, address ‘underutilization’ of red flag orders, and to ensure the ‘efficient and equitable implementation’ of the orders. We can assure you, there is nothing ‘equitable’ about stripping an individual’s right to bear arms without stringent due process, though it certainly is an ‘efficient’ means of firearm confiscation,” reported NRA-ILA.
The second order creates a “Statewide Safety Council.” This government body will “[r]ecommend strategies to combat radicalization, domestic terrorism, politically motivated violence, and extremist ideologies … .”
The order claims this council will do things such as combatting extremist ideologies by “bring[ing] together a multi-disciplinary group of leaders who will develop a comprehensive blueprint for prevention and preparedness by aligning policy efforts and driving meaningful action within the existing legal framework.”
This is gobbledygook language written to sound proactive; however, if it is acted upon meaningfully, it could quickly move from state-funded anti-freedom propaganda to First Amendment infringements, as the only way the educational and police agencies on this council could combat “extremism” (Isn’t the use of taxpayer funds to advocate for infringements on a right that is specifically protected by the U.S. Bill of Rights extremist?) would be to monitor and then police speech.
During his campaign for the vice presidency, Walz made a fool of himself as he tried to load his shotgun with the cameras watching. This clownish scene showed he clearly had not prepared himself for the orchestrated event. These executive orders are equally as poorly thought out. Still, they might be forgotten if this council doesn’t amount to much. But, if these poorly thought-out ideas are acted upon seriously, they could result in things that are more than embarrassing.
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