![[DEV] MN Catholic Conference](https://assets.nationbuilder.com/themes/65df773c6ffa600228371ffb/attachments/original/1709322834/logo.png?1709322834){kind=logo}
Action Alert: Urge legislators to protect all children!
Protect the safety of our kids in school and online!
Our Children live in a new era. Our laws should reflect that!
We live in a unique culture and time when children need more protection: in school, in public, and online. This has become even more pressing in wake of the tragic shooting at Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis and the shocking negative mental health effects of social media.
The Minnesota Catholic Conference believes this comprehensive three-tiered approach that addresses gun violence, school safety, and online protection is the best way forward in 2026.
Help Keep Students Safe at School: Expand Safe Schools Funding: HF 3493
School safety is a concern for every school—public, nonpublic, charter, and tribal. When one school is vulnerable, all schools are vulnerable. Parents, students, educators, and volunteers deserve a clear commitment from the State of Minnesota to invest in protecting every child and adult in our schools.
We must put our money to protect our vulnerable children by increasing funding in schools to at least $36 per enrolled student in state aid to private, charter, and tribal schools, and increasing the school board-approved levy authority for long-term resources. A broad coalition of Minnesota organizations representing more than 72,000 students agrees: Increase Safe Schools Funding.
More: Read our written testimony to the House Education Finance Committee in support of expanding school funding to private, charter, and tribal schools.
Ban High-Capacity Ammunition Magazines: HF 3402
We must ban Feeding devices that hold more than 10 rounds of ammunition and allow a shooter to continuously fire bullets without reloading. Statistics from Everytown for Gun Safety show that in mass shootings where four or more people were killed (2015-2022), incidents with high-capacity magazines led to:
- More than twice as many people killed
- Nearly ten times more people wounded per incident (on average)
- Nearly five times more people shot per incident (on average)
According to one study published in the Journal of Criminology and Public Policy, “bans of large-capacity magazines (LCMs) were associated with significant reductions in the incidence of fatal mass shootings,” and, along with background checks, “laws banning LCMs are the most effective gun policies for reducing fatal mass shootings.”
More: Read our written testimony to the Public Safety and Finance Policy Committee in support of banning high-capacity ammunition magazines.
Protect Our Children Online
Technically, today, 13 years old is the required age to open a social media account, but nearly 40 percent of children between the ages of eight and 12 use these platforms. Social Media Companies are not enforcing the requirements and are hurting our children.
Social Media addicts by design, and the addiction has created mental health challenges for today’s youth. Unsupervised time online also leaves youth susceptible to harm. The reality is, parents cannot combat the impact of social media alone. They are looking for help. The “safeguards” tech corporations have implemented for youth users have not proven to solve the problem.
We can do more! We must pass the Stop the Harms from Addictive Social Media (SHASM) law, giving parents the ability to approve the creation of social media accounts for our young children and monitor the amount of time they are spending on the platforms. This could have a big impact on the mental health crisis happening among our children.
See our one-pager for more information.
