FOX News reviewed Minnesota Department of Public Safety data, noting that there were 104 murders in Minnesota in 2018, which was the year before Walz took office.
However, in 2019, Walz’s first year as Governor, murders increased by 12 percent to 117. Then, in 2020…[murders] “skyrocketed to 185. In 2021, the state recorded 201 murders, 182 in 2022, and 172 last year,” Fox News reported.
A push for more and more gun control coincided with the surging murders.
For example, on February 21, 2018, the Star Tribune reported that DFL gubernatorial candidate Walz campaigned on an “assault weapons” ban.
His push for such a ban continued throughout his governorship. KARE11 noted Walz used part of his 2023 State of the State message to go after firearms that he labeled “weapons of war.” “I’m not just a veteran, or a hunter, or a gun owner. I’m a dad,” he said. “And for many years, I was a teacher. I know that there’s no place for weapons of war in our schools, or in our churches, or in our banks, or anywhere else people are just trying to live their lives without fear.”
And Breitbart News reported Walz has also signed gun controls as governor which both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have sought to secure at the federal level. On May 19, 2023, Walz’s office put out a press release noting that he had signed universal background check and red flag legislation into law.
All this gun control, yet murders continue to rise.
— AWR Hawkins in Murders and Gun Control Increased Under Tim Walz in Minnesota