According to Mayor Jake Spano, recent conversations between a group of Park students and City Council have pushed for gun reform in the city of St. Louis Park.

“I had just left a bunch of kids who want to ban guns from St. Louis Park in a room with a gun store owner and I really wasn’t worried,” Spano said. “I wasn’t worried about it going off the rails, I wasn’t worried about a fight or conflict because I really felt that both sides were listening to each other and open to the conversation,” Spano said.

Spano said he has met with this student group along with Kory Krause, the owner of St. Louis Park’s only gun store: the Frontiersman. Spano praised the determination of the students and said he has been participating in efforts to promote gun safety.

“This is the latest example of students really getting organized and articulating their own visions of what they want for their community and their future,” Spano said. “I think it’s a great example of a growing movement of youth in our country where they are stepping forward saying they’re not willing to stand by and let decisions be made for them. They want to be active participants in that process.”

According to Spano, the Council has a few top priorities when it comes to gun control. These include strengthening regulations on police department firearms that are no longer in use. He said they want to disallow federal firearm licenses, which are licenses citizens can have in order to sell guns out of their homes. He also said discussions about making schools safer will be continued at a joint school district and City Council meeting in late October.

“(We) want to be focusing and talking with the school district about specific things that we can do around our interactions with them and ways we can support making schools safer,” Spano said.

Junior Maddie Lind said student involvement is critical to increase gun safety in the community.

“Youth involvement is very important because we as students, we’re some of the people most directly under threat by gun control measures not being enacted, or by guns being in the wrong hands,” Lind said. “It’s a very personal issue because our safety is being threatened.”

Spano said Krause was very open to talking with the Park students and understood how sensitive the subject of guns can be for young people.

“You need to know when you’re talking to a 15 or 16 year old kid about their own mortality — that’s a pretty arresting conversation,” Spano said.

Junior Ellen Poulter, a member of the advocacy group, said she feels called to speak out because student voices are often ignored.

“It doesn’t seem acceptable to me that history can repeat itself over and over again with gun violence, especially when it is affecting the people who don’t have a voice,” Poulter said.

According to Spano, Krause verbally committed to raising the age to buy any type of gun at his store to 21. Spano also said City Council is attempting to configure the zoning in St. Louis Park so the Frontiersman will be the only store in the city with the ability to sell guns.

Poulter said she felt proud of the achievements the group made but is wary about feeling too accomplished.

“Even though it felt like we made a big change we have to be really careful about that, because really what that means is that people can’t buy guns if they’re under 21 in our city, but it doesn’t mean they can’t drive to Minneapolis or drive to Minnetonka or wherever to buy a gun,” Poulter said.

According to Lind, conversations between students, the council and Krause have been learning experiences for everyone involved.

“I’m very grateful that the City Council members have been so receptive and have worked so well with the students in the community,” Lind said.