ST. PAUL, Minn. — Days of tension over stalled gun safety legislation in the Minnesota House erupted into yelling matches, with Democrats taking over the chamber and demanding Speaker Lisa Demuth hold a vote.

Democrats are staging a House chamber sit-in until Saturday over the lack of movement on the issue, a shift in tone that came just hours after top legislative leaders had announced a bipartisan deal to end the 2026 legislative session.

The Minnesota Senate last week passed legislation that would ban assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines, expand requirements for safely storing firearms and provide school security and mental health funding. Similar assault weapons and magazine legislation failed in House committees earlier in the legislative session.

But Demuth, R-Cold Spring, has not taken a procedural step that would allow it to move forward in the House. Rep. Emma Greenman, DFL-Minneapolis, tried to bypass committees to take it up on the House floor Thursday, but the effort failed along party lines.

As most lawmakers filed out of the chamber late Thursday night, several Democrats were in heated discussion with Rep. Elliott Engen, R-Lino Lakes. It wasn’t clear how the discussion began.

As Engen left, Rep. Aisha Gomez, DFL-Minneapolis, yelled after him, “Think of them, not yourself,” videos from the House DFL and posted to social media by Republicans show. Voices in videos from the House DFL call out “[expletive] coward” and to “think of their children,” but it’s unclear who’s speaking.

Republicans accused Gomez on social media of telling Engen to “shoot himself” or “kill himself,” which Engen suggested Friday was not captured on video of the interaction. Gomez said it was a “total fabrication of my actual words.”

“Any suggestion that I would encourage violence is absurd and completely contrary to how I have conducted myself throughout my legislative career,” Gomez said in a statement.

Demuth and House GOP Floor Leader Harry Niska, of Ramsey, called for Gomez to be removed as the Democratic co-chair on the House Taxes Committee.

“We have a responsibility to conduct ourselves in a respectful way, and that was not evident whatsoever last night as we were finishing things up,” Demuth said on MPR News on Friday.

House DFL Leader Zack Stephenson, of Coon Rapids, said video was “crystal clear” that there was no violent rhetoric toward Engen. He said Minnesotans “really want action on gun violence” and it’s frustrating that the bill hasn’t moved forward.

The altercation came after an hourslong debate on guns. The stark partisan divide over the issue was on display as Democrats implored Republicans to join them to bring the bill up for a vote and Republicans claimed it would violate the rights of lawful gun owners.

Gun safety advocates and families from Annunciation Catholic Church and School, which suffered a mass shooting in August, chanted at lawmakers from outside the chamber to “hold the vote.”

They urged lawmakers to remember Harper Moyski and Fletcher Merkel, the two children killed at Annunciation, as well as late House DFL Leader Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark Hortman. The Hortmans were fatally shot in their home 11 months ago.

On Friday morning, DFLers said their frustration boiled over when Engen praised Harper’s parents and asked lawmakers to recognize them, a move some Democrats called cynical because the Moyski family has asked for a House vote on new gun restrictions.

“Jackie and Mike, you two are phenomenal parents,” Engen said. “To go through what you’ve gone through and be able to have the resolve and the strength and determination and the leadership to engage with every single one of us.”

House Democrats started loudly objecting and shouting at Engen. At one point someone can be heard saying, “Shame on you.”

Demuth banged her gavel over the growing din, calling an end to the House floor session as DFLers chanted “hold the vote.”

Greenman said Engen made “a pretty cynical spectacle” of Annunciation families in the gallery.

“We had families in the gallery who were waiting and expecting us to take a vote,” Greenman said. She added: “What you saw after that was a pretty forceful shift of focus back to the families and the issue that Minnesotans are demanding us to take action on.”

Niska told Democrats toward the end of the debate: “Minnesotans see through your theater.”

“This bill is not ready,” Niska said, “no matter how urgent the problem is, to pass.”

Debate over the bill included other partisan barbs, including Rep. Walter Hudson, R-Albertville, accusing the political left of being responsible for most high-profile violence.

He spoke at length about the “ideology of war,” at times yelling across the House chamber, prompting Rep. Tina Liebling, DFL-Rochester, to question whether he was sober. Earlier in the session, Democrats filed an ethics complaint, later dismissed, against Hudson and Engen after the two were seen drinking in St. Paul after leaving a committee hearing early. Engen was arrested early the next morning on suspicion of a DWI.

Hudson retorted: “I mean, I could be blitzed and still take you down.”

Lawmakers must finish their work by the end of the weekend, giving the House 36 hours to pass a bipartisan budget deal once they return Saturday at noon.

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—Brooks Johnson and Elliot Hughes of the Minnesota Star Tribune contributed to this story.

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