Meet the Annunciation parents mobilizing to end gun violence in Minnesota
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Dozens of school desks are lined up outside the Minnesota State Capitol this week to represent a fraction of the more than 200 Minnesota children killed by gun violence since 2021.
Inside the building sit another two desks with personal effects — backpacks, shoes and journals — of 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski.
Both children died after a mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church and School in August of 2025 that left 28 others injured.
The installations are part of events organized by the Annunciation Light Alliance, a nonpartisan advocacy group led by parents whose children were present that day, for the start of the legislative session. Parents borrowed the desks from Annunciation on Monday and expect to return them late Thursday.
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Parishioners and school children in practically every grade were inside the church when 116 bullets shattered through windows in less than two minutes and forever impacted the school community.
Afterwards, parents mobilized. Annunciation parents began sharing political information over WhatsApp and held their first in-person meeting in the basement of their neighborhood recreation center. Their efforts have evolved into an advocacy nonprofit about 160 people strong.
They want to ensure nothing like the shooting happens again — even as they still come to terms with their new normal.
“We’ve been finding our footing for the last few months. All of us are navigating both a really strong desire to do something and to see change and a sense of urgency around that change, but we're also navigating living through the aftermath and the ongoing experience of having children who have survived gun violence,” said Brittany Haeg, who co-chairs the alliance.
Haeg’s first grader David spent days in pediatric intensive care after he was shot in the head and abdomen, and bullets that ricocheted off church pews tore wounds across his body. She balances a job and her volunteer role with tending to his recovery, which involves still numerous medical visits.
“This is what six months look like. It is not a clean recovery. It is not closure. It is a child who still carries pieces of a weapon inside of him, pieces of ammunition,” shared Haeg on Tuesday afternoon at state House committee hearing, mentioning how bullet fragments that remain in her son are causing elevated lead levels.
The parent coalition formed as Minnesota grappled with other high-profile tragedies involving firearms, including the the assassination of state Rep. Melissa Hortman, her husband, and dog and the shooting of Sen. John Hoffman and his wife in June.
Following the Annunciation shooting, Gov. Tim Walz and other advocates called for a special session to pass restrictions on firearms and ammunition. Unable to muster the legislative support, Walz instead issued executive orders to try to reduce gun violence. Measures included the creation of a statewide safety council to examine the effects of gun violence and tracking its cost, in addition to added funding to educate gun owners on safe storage.
Now, DFL lawmakers vow this legislative session will include a priority on gun violence prevention — in no small part because of Annunciation parents.
They joined Walz at a press conference on Tuesday morning where he announced a package of 15 proposals to address gun violence.
“I made pledges to these people. I sat in their houses with them as there was an empty chair for their little ones, or hospitals as they were calling from. I have to make sure that I am doing everything possible to give them what they want to see,” said Walz.
Momentum and challenges this session
Long-time advocates joined Annunciation parents for their first event at the state Capitol on Tuesday afternoon, including groups like Moms Demand Action and Protect Minnesota, a statewide gun violence prevention organization.
Maggiy Emery, executive director of Protect Minnesota, said their coalition across Minnesota “has never been bigger.”
“I don't think we as advocates or Minnesotans or legislators can overlook how many tragedies have happened in our state as a result of guns in the last year,” said Emery. “We have seen quite a broad coalition this year, and a lot of groups jumping in who, you know, haven’t always necessarily been traditionally out front on this issue.”
Still, advocates say they’re aware addressing gun violence will be an uphill battle. It’s been over a decade since the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Connecticut, just one of several tragedies after which parents organized advocacy groups for change.
Months after the mass shooting at Annunciation, there was another at Brown University, too.
“When that happened, it was the sort of like pit in your stomach that dropped, that you didn't really want to admit as a parent of children that were in a mass shooting. Like, here it is. This is the reality of where we live now is that this is something that can very easily happen again and again,” said Kristen Neville, who co-leads the Annunciation Light Alliance with Haeg.
Advocates both for and against gun restrictions say any solutions will require overcoming partisanship — support for various measures tend to follow strict party lines.
DFLers also anticipate the election year — with many seats up in the air — may cause candidates to focus more on campaigning than collaborative legislation.
“When you add together the importance of the moment, the incredible emotions that people feel about all of these things and a looming election and people running for office, I think it will make it a very challenging session,” said Rep. Zack Stephenson, DFL-Coon Rapids, the state House DFL caucus leader.
“You know, what we are … seeing in the Republican Party is a lot of people who are willing to say something behind closed doors that they're not willing to say once the cameras are on,” he added.
Speaking to MPR News ahead of the legislative session, state Republican leaders disagreed that the election year would be an issue and said conversations to address gun violence need to take place in committees, as is established.
“This is one of those things that we're going to have to sit down and really air out. What are the different interests? What are the viewpoints? What's the actual data and facts?” said Sen. Mark Johnson, R-East Forks, Senate minority leader.
Rep. Lisa Demuth, R-Cold Spring, House speaker and candidate for governor, said DFLers failed to support a Republican proposal to fund school safety efforts last year and had not passed any solutions when they held power over state government from 2023 to 2024.
“What we’re looking for is ways and flexibility for schools to be a little bit safer and that they can use those dollars going forward. When we talk about mental health supports, it could be dollars that could go to school safety. That could be used for counselors or something like that …That’s more of the approach that we would take,” said Demuth.
Nonpartisan focus
The Annunciation Light Alliance hopes to overcome this divisiveness through connection.
In upcoming months, the parents plan to find spaces to bring their stories, while remaining open to different ideas and perspectives.
“We’re not here to fight, but we’re here to win. And so we are here to take an approach where we are nonpartisan focused and we want to have conversations about gun violence and what that means,” said Neville.
The parents practice facilitating difficult conversations at their meetings. They also invite experts and are thoughtful about their strategy, keeping the focus on dialogue, rather than policy debates.
“I have lots of policy things I’d like to see happen, but I don’t think there’s one specific policy goal that I can point to and say ‘This, this is the thing, if we just did that, I’d feel better,’” said Haeg. “I think it is not repeating the conversation that happened about the special session, which was no conversation. It is having some open willingness to figure out what keeps kids safe.”
A range of supporters have rallied behind them: first responders, clergy and gun violence survivors in Minnesota and elsewhere.
Mental health providers joined their ranks in October, with about 1,200 healers — including psychologists, social workers, nurses, massage therapists and more — since signing on to a letter to lawmakers. They held a “Healers Demand Action” rally on Feb. 13 ahead of the start of the legislative session.
“We’re here to reject the idea that this is a mental health problem. This is a gun problem and there's things that we can do and have failed to do over the years to protect people,” said Kayla Hughes, a therapist and social worker who helped author the letter.
Speaking at the healers’ rally, Annunciation parent Brock Safe said assault-style weapons are unique in their ability to wreck incredible damage.
His two daughters were in the church during the shooting. His eighth grader was uninjured, though friends on either side of her were shot. His fifth grader Astoria had a bullet graze her forehead, a large bullet fragment embed into the left side of her neck, and multiple bullet fragments lodge into her head.
He said Astoria, as many other Annunciation students, is now diagnosed with severe PTSD.
“What our children and teachers endured is truly unimaginable, a devastating consequence of a nation that continues to prioritize their love of guns over the safety and lives of our children,” said Safe.
“We have the solemn responsibility and the moral obligation to fight for children across America to ensure that no other child faces this same fate. We cannot and we must not fail them.”
