Minnesota can lead on gun violence — if we stop arguing past the evidence

While lawmakers at the Minnesota Senate’s Gun Violence Prevention Working Group fell into familiar gridlock last week, Minnesotans outside the Capitol are united in one thing: exhaustion with the violence. Political leaders assassinated in their homes or on campuses, children killed in classrooms and churches — people are tired of living with these tragedies.

The question isn’t whether we share the goal — we do. It’s whether we’ll act on the evidence.

In April, we published a survey of 10,000 U.S. adults (fielded in January 2024). We asked respondents to rank the leading causes of mass shootings from a list of 14 explanations. Across party lines, Americans named the same top five: mental illness, access to guns, hate or bias, traumatic childhoods and “evil personality.” Democrats leaned