St. Paul, Minn. - Today, the House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee held a public hearing on legislation authored by Rep. Kaela Berg (DFL - Burnsville) to strengthen Minnesota’s gun laws. The bill would make straw purchases of firearms a felony and improve the effectiveness of the law prohibiting the activity, strengthen the statutory definition of trigger activators, and require reporting on gun trafficking and firearm seizures. Having enacted several laws in 2023 while holding additional hearings on the issue this session, the legislation continues the House DFL’s efforts to enact effective gun violence prevention laws.
“DFLers at the legislature have been working for many years to address gun violence,” Rep. Berg said. “This legislation is an important step in keeping guns out of the hands of people who want to harm themselves or others, and to help stop gun violence in our communities altogether.”
A straw purchase occurs when an individual buys a firearm for someone ineligible to purchase or possess them. Rep. Berg’s legislation, incorporated under an amendment to HF 2609 the committee adopted, would update the state’s straw purchasing law to increase the penalty from a gross misdemeanor to a felony. The bill also strengthens the law to include cases where the person making the transfer should have reasonably known the person receiving the firearm was ineligible to possess it. The current standard requires proof the person providing the weapon had prior knowledge of the recipient’s ineligibility, a high bar to reach for successful prosecution. The bill also expands the straw purchaser law to cover all firearms, not just pistols or semiautomatic military-style assault weapons as covered by current law.
“Gun violence continues to be a pervasive issue in our communities, that’s why we worked urgently to pass this legislation” said Rep. Kelly Moller (DFL - Shoreview), chair of the House Public Safety Committee. “We will continue to take a holistic approach in our efforts to prevent gun violence so we can make Minnesota a safer place to live.”
Additionally, the bill clarifies the definition of illegal “trigger activators” under state law to prohibit so-called binary trigger devices that allow a semiautomatic gun to fire more than one shot with a single pull and release of a trigger. According to charging documents, one of the firearms used in the February Burnsville shooting was equipped with such a device. Last year, lawmakers increased penalties for unlawful possession or operation of machine guns, trigger activators, or machine gun conversion kits.
The legislation also requires the Minnesota Department of Public Safety to issue an annual report to the Legislature on firearms trafficking. The report requires information on actions taken by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension and Violent Crimes Enforcement Teams on the number of firearms seized, the number of gun trafficking investigations conducted, and a summary of the types of investigations conducted.
This session, the House Public Safety Committee has conducted public hearings on a variety of bills to address gun violence in Minnesota. These hearings include legislation to: require safe storage of firearms (HF 396), require reporting of lost and stolen firearms (HF 601), create a task force on domestic violence and firearms (HF 4387), repeal state preemption laws of local regulations to prevent gun violence (HF 4538), and allow local governments to restrict dangerous weapons in government-owned buildings or on government-owned land (HF 2828). Last year, House DFLers led the way in enacting long-awaited measures expanding criminal background checks, providing for extreme risk protection orders, and making a historic investment in violence prevention efforts.
The bill was laid over for future consideration.
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