Working Toward Fewer Gun Deaths in Minnesota

District Perspectives, Senate District 65

This month marks three years since the tragic shooting on West Seventh Street that killed one person and injured 14 others. Since then, the U.S. has continued to experience more gun violence than nearly every other country in the world. Guns continue to be a top cause of death for children and teens, and from schools to bars and movie theaters, gun violence overshadows nearly every venue of public life. 

In the face of such grim statistics, Minnesotans are joining together and demanding action — and the DFL-led Legislature is answering that call. In the past two years, we have taken great strides in passing gun violence prevention legislation, gaining recognition on the national stage: Everytown for Gun Safety, a research and policy group, moved Minnesota up three places in its ranking of gun violence prevention legislation this year. I’m proud to have supported each measure we passed to promote safe, responsible gun ownership, and I was chief author of a law that funds Hamline University’s Violence Prevention Project, a research center that provides essential data on gun violence and how to prevent it. 

Other new legislation includes: 

Extreme risk protection orders. This law allows law enforcement officers and family members to seek a court order temporarily removing guns from a person in crisis, who may hurt themself or others — saving lives by allowing action before warning signs escalate into tragedies. 

Expanded background checks. This law closes a loophole in federal background check requirements and ensures that in Minnesota, we are keeping guns out of the hands of dangerous people, domestic abusers and those who may harm themselves or others. 

Increased penalties for straw purchases. A straw purchase is when someone buys a firearm in order to give it to someone who is prohibited from having one. Minnesota increased penalties for this crime and expanded Minnesota’s straw purchase ban to cover people who reasonably should have known they were purchasing a firearm for somebody prohibited from having them. 

Ban on binary triggers. These devices can be added to a firearm so that it fires two bullets instead of one when the trigger is pulled, functionally turning a standard gun into a semi-automatic firearm. 

Gun violence prevention task force. A new task force will provide the Legislature with information and recommendations for addressing the intersection of gun violence and domestic abuse, helping legislators pass laws that match Minnesota’s needs.

That’s a roadmap of the past two years; to see the path forward, all we have to do is look to our own city. In 2023, the St. Paul City Council voted unanimously to require safe firearm storage in the city, meaning that gun owners must secure their weapons with a gun lock or in a safe. This common-sense ordinance prevents guns from being stolen and misused, or found by a child who may hurt themselves or others by accident. A statewide safe storage law would save countless lives. 

There is no cure-all for gun violence, but there are many steps we can take as a state to keep each other safe. Minnesota can and will continue to lead the nation in proven, common-sense laws that will keep firearms out of the hands of those who would harm themselves or others.