Why hugely popular bills don't have a chance in the Minnesota Senate

Depending on what poll you look at, somewhere between 80 and 90 percent of Minnesotans favor criminal background checks on all gun purchases. That includes between 87 and 89 percent of gun owners.

So you might have thought state Sen. Ron Latz (D-St. Louis Park) would have no trouble passing his latest background check bill. But for the last year and a half, with Republicans in control of the Senate, he couldn’t even get a hearing.

The excuses varied. Sometimes he was told the schedule was full, or his committee chair said the decision was over his head. But it all adds up to one conclusion in his mind:

“They don’t want to hear the bill, and they don’t want it to move forward,” he says. “I find it impossible to believe they couldn’t find an hour and a half or two hours to discuss it.”

Read more: http://www.citypages.com/news/why-hugely-popular-bills-dont-have-a-chance-in-the-minnesota-senate/507792591