Before Vice President Kamala Harris selected him as her running mate, and before he served as Minnesota governor and 12 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, Tim Walz wore a uniform. Two days after his 17th birthday, Walz enlisted in the Army National Guard. Twenty-four years later, he retired just before his first congressional campaign. He’s described his National Guard experience as a guiding force of his political career, one made apparent by his efforts to counter veteran suicide.
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Suicide is one of the leading causes of death for veterans, and most veterans who die by suicide use a gun. In Congress, Walz sponsored a major veterans’ suicide prevention bill in 2015 that created incentives for psychiatrists to work in the veterans’ health care system, prompted the Department of Veterans Affairs to reexamine the effectiveness of its prevention programs, and authorized the department to work on suicide prevention with relevant nonprofits.
As Walz acknowledged, the bill didn’t solve every problem related to mental health access for veterans. And even with those improvements, veteran suicides continued to rise significantly after Walz left Congress.
Storing guns unsafely is a major suicide risk. As The Trace’s Fairriona Magee reported in April, more than half of military veterans with access to firearms do so, and nearly 40 percent store their guns loaded. Walz, a gun owner and reformer, has pushed for Minnesota lawmakers to pass safe storage requirements, though the legislation stalled.
As The Trace’s Chip Brownlee explained, Walz has one of the most unlikely gun reform records of all of Harris’s potential VP picks. He went from a gun rights supporter who received an “A” grade and campaign contributions from the National Rifle Association to a leading force behind Minnesota’s gun reform. In his 2023 State of the State address, Walz alluded to his changing approach: “I’m not just a veteran, not just a hunter, not just a gun owner — I’m a father. And for many years I was a teacher. And we all know damn well weapons of war have no place in our schools, in our churches, in our banks, for anyone who wants to live in peace.”
What to Know Today
Curtis Hunt, 25, was struck by gunfire 12 times in less than two years, shot multiple times in two separate incidents in Baltimore. Police allege that Hunt himself illegally possessed a gun each time he was shot — so he was prosecuted for the same shootings that left him with damage in his intestines and heart. Hunt’s case illustrates how people can be considered both victims and defendants. [The Baltimore Banner]
A federal appeals court ruled that Maryland’s ban on the sale and possession of some assault-style weapons is constitutional, finding that the firearms covered by the ban “fall outside the ambit of protection offered by the Second Amendment” because they are essentially designed for combat, not self-defense. The decision sets up a potential Supreme Court battle. The Second Amendment Foundation and the Firearms Policy Coalition, gun groups involved in a legal attack designed to dismantle America’s gun laws, are both plaintiffs in the case. [Courthouse News/Reuters]
San Diego is one of the most active users of California’s gun violence restraining order law. Known as a red flag law, the measure allows courts to order that firearms be temporarily confiscated from people deemed dangerous. City officials say they’ve used the law to prevent mass shootings and suicides — and San Diego just received two state grants, totaling $4.2 million, to expand its efforts. [San Diego Union-Tribune]
Last month, after Sonya Massey called 911, an Illinois sheriff’s deputy shot and killed the 36-year-old in her Springfield home. Now, members of her family are advocating for state laws to make it harder for officers with questionable work history and conduct to bounce between police agencies. Though many think this reform could have prevented her death, some policymakers are unconvinced. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Online calls for violence and a civil war spiked the day after a man attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump. Researchers documented 1,599 calls for civil war across a range of online platforms like Reddit, YouTube, and websites geared toward the far right. Although that’s a 633 percent increase from a normal day, the findings are consistent with a longstanding pattern. [CBS News]
Applications for permits to carry guns soared in New Jersey in the two years following the Supreme Court’s Bruen decision, the 2022 ruling that upended firearm regulations nationwide. According to state data, more than 41,300 gun owners applied for permits during that period — a dramatic increase from the 1,588 people who sought permits the two years earlier. [New Jersey Monitor]
Data Point
2,051 — the number of specific threats or incitements to violence online the day after the attempt to assassinate former President Donald Trump. [CBS News]
