Dear Governor Walz,
I was driving around yesterday and heard on MPR that you may
be planning to introduce legislature to toughen gun laws based on the recent
tragic events. I encourage you to do
this and have written extensively about this issue and the surrounding
politics. It is quite unbelievable that
nothing is ever done to address the problem solely because we have a party that
supports gun extremism. I offer some
posts off my blog to give you necessary data if you need it.
The first looks at the issue of permissive gun laws and how
they affect the gun death rate of children and adolescents. Firearm deaths are the number one cause of
preventable deaths in this age group and the United States is the only high-income
country where this is true. In the study
I reviewed, Minnesota is classified as a state with intermediate permissiveness
in terms of gun laws. In states in this category
there were 1,424 excess firearm deaths.
States in the most permissive category had 6,029 excess firearm deaths. I have a table in this post that compares Illinois,
Minnesota, and Wisconsin as examples of strict, permissive, and most permissive
gun law states:
https://real-psychiatry.blogspot.com/2025/06/pediatric-deaths-from-firearms.html
In a second post I address the issue of likely and unlikely causes
of mass shootings. There is always a lot
of excuse making by gun extremists when these events occur. Recently that has included blaming mental
illnesses and even psychiatric treatments.
As an expert in treating aggression and violence I can attest to the
fact that psychiatric treatment does not cause aggression. Beyond that I would invite you to look at the
data in this post clearly illustrating that the major variable in mass
shootings is gun density. Countries
using the same number of antidepressants or more bracket the US in the first
table and neither country has mass shootings and nowhere near the number of gun
suicides or homicides. Even considering mental illness as a risk factor, people
with that problem do worse in the US due to firearm availability.
https://real-psychiatry.blogspot.com/2023/03/likely-and-unlikely-causes-of-mass.html
And finally, I have a few posts about gun extremism in the
US and how it has evolved over the years.
We have gone from 19th century local ordinances that require
checking your firearms at the city limits to permitless concealed carry of much
more deadly modern firearms. And all of
that is since the party pushing this agenda has no functional policies that
would appeal to the electorate. In fact,
in one of my posts I point out that the same party that pushes gun extremism
has pushed political violence.
Gun Extremism Not Mental Illness: https://real-psychiatry.blogspot.com/2022/05/gun-extremism-not-mental-illness.html
Mass Shooters - The American Gun Extremist Superman: https://real-psychiatry.blogspot.com/2024/08/mass-shooters-american-gun-extremist.html
Another Note on Gun Extremism - An Appeal to Grandparents: https://real-psychiatry.blogspot.com/2023/01/another-note-on-gun-extremism-appeal-to.html
Current Political Violence In The USA: https://real-psychiatry.blogspot.com/2024/10/current-political-violence-in-usa.html
You can find more posts on my blog by searching guns,
firearms, or gun extremism. Good luck with your efforts to make Minnesota a
safer place for all of us.
George Dawson, MD, DFAPA
Additional Information: I sent similar notes to both US Senators from Minnesota.
Photo Credit: I took this shot of the crowd at the Minnesota State Fair on August 26, 2025.
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