Minnesota Republican Opposes Gun Safety Bill Because Murderous Cows

A Minnesota Republican state senator had an a-moo-sing but completely unhinged reason to oppose a proposal for safe storage requirements for guns: People might need to shoot cows.

Senator Warren Limmer made the bizarre argument on Friday during a committee meeting on a bill that would require firearms to be stored either unloaded and disabled with a locking device or in a locked storage unit. Current state law merely requires that guns be stored somewhere a child cannot reach them.

Limmer, who worked as a corrections officer prior to serving in the state legislature, argued that people who live in rural areas need to be able to access their guns quickly to protect against both predators and domesticated farm animals.

“Farm animals at times can be very dangerous. Take, for example, a cow who just recently had a calf,” Limmer said. “You even walk too close to a cow and it’ll take you down and trample you into dust.”

“Many farmers have a readily available gun just for those emergencies. Fumbling around with a lock while a cow or bull or any other animal is going after your daughter or your son—you can’t fumble around with a key, or try and find the lockbox, or put your thumb on a biometric key of some sort in your home while the danger is outside.”

Contrary to what Limmer said, death by cow attack is not actually that common in the United States. A study published in January in the journal Forensic Science, Medicine and Pathology found that only about 20 to 22 deaths are caused by cattle per year—and that includes cows reacting to “deliberate provocation or goading intended to incite aggressive behavior for public entertainment purposes.”

It’s hard to envision the scenario Limmer outlines, in which a gun owner is inside the home, fumbling with a lock, while their child is being run down outside by a psychopathic cow. The more likely motivation for Limmer’s wild argument is the same one behind the strange “30-50 feral hogs” meme from 2019: People will say anything, no matter how ridiculous, to oppose gun restrictions.