(The Center Square) – Minnesota House Republican leaders are calling for the removal of Rep. Aisha Gomez after a verbal altercation with Rep. Elliott Engen on the House floor following the failure of a gun-related bill.
Speaker Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, and Majority Leader Harry Niska, R-Ramsey, are urging Gov. Tim Walz to publicly condemn the incident and are calling on House DFL leadership to strip Gomez of her chairmanship of the tax committee.
“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.”
Rep. Drew Roach, R-Farmington, posted a video to social media showing Gomez, D-Minneapolis, yelling at Engen, R-Lino Lakes. Multiple reports, including Engen himself, state that Gomez told Engen to go “shoot himself.”
“Didn’t have multiple Democrat colleagues yelling at me to ‘go f’ing shoot myself” on my bingo card…,” Engen said following the incident.
Some are calling for Gomez to step down or be expelled from the House altogether, though that would have significant consequences on the political makeup of chamber, which is currently tied 67-67.
Niska called out the irony of Gomez’s alleged comments.
“After the horrible tragedies we’ve had in Minnesota over the last year, it is sickening that an elected official would think it’s acceptable to say the things we heard tonight,” Niska said. “We had just heard hours of debate and heartbreaking stories of loss and violence. To respond to that with threats and hate is unconscionable and unacceptable.”
At the time of publication, neither Democrat leadership nor Gomez have yet issued a public response to these claims. Gomez’s office also did not respond to a request for comment.
This comes as the legislative session is in its final days and Democrats are hopeful to still advance gun reform legislation before adjournment.
On Thursday, a motion failed to bring the legislation into consideration by the House, leading to nearly a dozen House Democrats staging a sit-in. That sit-in began Thursday night and is expected to continue until Saturday at noon.
“Speaker Lise Demuth, please let us vote on this bill,” the lawmakers said in a video posted to social media. “What are you afraid of?”
SF 4067 was first proposed following the Annunciation Catholic School shooting, where two students were killed during a school Mass on the morning of Aug. 27. Another 30 people in attendance were injured. The 23-year-old shooter had previously attended the church and school.
Since then, Democrats have been leading the charge for more restrictions on firearms in Minnesota. The Senate bill, which was passed earlier this month on a party-line vote, is the culmination of Gun Violence Prevention Package first proposed by Gov. Tim Walz in February.
Specifically, the bill would:
• Ban “military-style assault weapons” and large-capacity magazines
• Re-pass the binary trigger ban
• Ban firearms without serial numbers
This is just a few of the measures included in the bill, which has just three days to pass before the legislature adjourns Monday.
