Here's another article from the Pioneer Press:
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/12279841.htm
Churches attack 'conceal carry' law
BY BILL GARDNER
Pioneer Press
New lawsuit calls re-enacted handgun law unconstitutional
The newly re-enacted conceal-and-carry handgun law is under legal attack by churches that say the Minnesota law is an unconstitutional interference with religious freedom.
The lawsuit filed Monday in Hennepin County District Court was an expected challenge to the re-enacted law, which the state Legislature passed in May to correct flaws in the 2003 law. The earlier law had been declared unconstitutional because it was tacked on to a bill on ice-fishing houses.
"Religious institutions should have the right to control their own property and to be able to worship without firearms,'' said David Lillehaug, attorney for Edina Community Lutheran Church, which is joined by Unity Church Unitarian of St. Paul in challenging the re-enacted law.
The law prevents churches from banning firearms in their parking areas or leased space and allows the churches to ban firearms in the churches only if they place very detailed signs at specific entrances or verbally tell each person of the ban at the door.
The churches contend that worshippers should be welcomed in a more hospitable manner rather than a demand that they leave their guns elsewhere.
The handgun-permit law requires county sheriffs to grant handgun permits to most adults who seek them. Previously, sheriffs and police chiefs had much more control over who got permits.
Edina Community Lutheran Church won an injunction in 2004 against enforcement of the previous handgun permit law, but the injunction was dismissed after the enactment of the new law.
The changes made in the new law are very minor, Lillehaug said.
"I thought the Legislature and the governor would have learned from the mistakes they made in 2003 and at least have solved the problems in this statute that affect religious institutions," Lillehaug said.
Unity Church Unitarian brought a separate lawsuit against the previous law, contending it was unconstitutional because the Minnesota Constitution required that laws deal with a single subject and the handgun permit law was part of an ice-fishing house law. A Ramsey County District Court judge struck the law down as unconstitutional, and the Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed the decision.
Those rulings prompted the Legislature to re-enact the law in a single bill in May.
Joe Olson, president of the Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance, said he expects the new law to withstand the churches' challenge.
"They are not suing over religious freedom," Olson said. "They are suing because they don't like guns."
Hennepin County District Judge LaJune Thomas Lange will hear the case. A hearing date has not been scheduled.