As the Minnesota House of Representatives shifted to a 67-67 tie between Republicans and Democrats last week, a bevy of gun control bills are being closely watched by activists on both sides of the debate.
One bill now on the radar of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus is HF1313, which it said would “repeal MN’s preemption laws and allow cities, townships, and counties to prohibit peaceable Minnesotans from carrying firearms for self-defense in government buildings, parks, and all government lands/properties.”
The state’s preemption laws currently prevent local governments from creating their own ordinances restricting firearms.
The proposal has not yet been scheduled for a hearing in the House, where Rep. Samakab Hussein, DFL-St. Paul, is the chief author. Whether it will be taken up by the House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee is dependent on who has the gavel on any given day. Reps. Paul Novotny, R-Elk River, and Kelly Moeller, DFL-Shoreview, are co-chairs of the committee.
A Senate version authored by Sen. Sandy Pappas, DFL-St. Paul, also has yet to receive a hearing.
Second Amendment rights advocates who lobby at the legislature say they remain cautiously optimistic that such a bill won’t be picked up on the House floor, even if it makes its way into the committee hearing process.
“Kind of our saving grace right now is we still have Speaker (Lisa) Demuth with the gavel over in the House,” said Rob Doar, senior vice president of government affairs for the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, during an interview Thursday on Twin Cities News Talk. “We’re confident that the House would be able to stop anything, and since the Democrats in the Senate know the House will be able to stop it, they’re not likely going to burn too much political capital.”
One of the measures Democrats pushed for but were unable to pass under the “DFL trifecta” in 2023 and 2024 is a bill that Rep. Kaohly Her, DFL-St. Paul, has brought back this session.
HF1757 would require gun owners to report stolen or lost firearms to law enforcement. If a gun owner fails to report a lost or stolen firearm within 48 hours after learning of the theft, they would be guilty of a petty misdemeanor on the first offense. Republicans have opposed the bill in the past, saying it presents Fifth Amendment issues. That bill has 23 sponsors in the House, all Democrats, but no authors in the Senate.
20 DFL legislators sponsoring ‘semiautomatic’ weapons ban
One proposal that is being carried by legislators in both chambers is a bill that would ban the sale or transfer of nearly all semi-automatic rifles, most semi-automatic shotguns, and some semi-automatic handguns, the Gun Owners Caucus explained.
Rep. Leigh Finke, DFL-St. Paul, is the chief author of HF2449 in the House and introduced the bill on Monday. It has yet to be scheduled for a hearing. A Senate companion bill is chief authored by Sen. Jen McEwen, DFL-Duluth. In total, 20 legislators, all Democrats, have signed onto the bill. Many of the legislators co-authoring the bill are supported by the Minnesota chapter of Moms Demand Action, an organization that is part of “Everytown for Gun Safety,” which spends millions of dollars on lobbying for gun control bills across the nation.
The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus said in a post to its members that this is the first time such a proposal has received five sponsors, “which indicates it’s getting more support than” previous sessions it was introduced.
Hank Long
Hank Long is a journalism and communications professional whose writing career includes coverage of the Minnesota legislature, city and county governments and the commercial real estate industry. Hank received his undergraduate degree at the University of Minnesota, where he studied journalism, and his law degree at the University of St. Thomas. The Minnesota native lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and four children. His dream is to be around when the Vikings win the Super Bowl.
