News Release
O'NEILL INTRODUCES BILL ADDRESSING LAST YEAR'S BUFFALO SHOOTING
St. Paul, MN - A day after the one year anniversary of the Allina Clinic shooting in Buffalo, Rep. Marion O'Neill (R-Maple Lake) has introduced a bill to address the shortcomings in law that allowed the perpetrator to buy a gun.
"As the details came out about the tragedy in our community last year, I immediately got to work on a bill to ensure that this would never happen again," said O'Neill. "No community should ever experience the heartbreak that ours did on February 9, 2021. My bill ensures that in the future a perpetrator who should be barred from buying a gun due to mental incompetence to stand trial, is not able to legally obtain a gun."
HF 3275 says that a misdemeanor charge would not be allowed to be dismissed based on a report of mental incompetence, but would have to go before a judge for an official judicial finding. If a judge finds that a person is mentally incompetent to stand trial, that information is legally required to appear on a background check, thus barring that person from legally purchasing or possessing a firearm.
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