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Revamped handgun bill sent to House floor
Conrad deFiebre, Star Tribune
Published April 4, 2003 GUNS04
With a few more tweaks to one of the most hotly debated Minnesota policy initiatives of the past decade, a bill to make permits to carry handguns available to more people advanced Thursday to the House floor.
Proponents claimed they made a major concession Thursday: allowing sheriffs to deny permits on evidence of an applicant's potential dangerousness "as far back as the records go," said House sponsor Lynda Boudreau, R-Faribault. In previous versions of the bill, only documented incidents in the previous three years could have been considered.
"I want to assure that people who get permits are responsible folks," Boudreau said.
Other new elements in her bill included an increase in the maximum permit fee from $60 to $100, doubling the time allowed to check an applicant's background from 15 days to 30 and placing less burden on businesses that bar handguns from their premises.
Relieved of having to store permitholders' firearms and assume strict liability for their loss or for injury to their owners, several business groups endorsed the bill.
But some legislators complained that no similar allowances were made for public facilities besides schools, courthouses and the State Capitol. Under the bill, for example, a city hall could not be posted off-limits to guns.
Boudreau replied that that's also true under current law. Her bill, she said, adds many safeguards not now on the books, including more training, broader background checks and a new statewide database of permitholders.
Opponents argue that those restrictions are needed only because sheriffs and police chiefs will be stripped of broad discretion to deny permits. That fundamental change is projected to increase the number of Minnesotans licensed to pack heat on the street from fewer than 12,000 now to 90,000 within three years.
It also is a key reason why all of Minnesota's major law enforcement groups oppose the change. And why some members of the Million Mom March organization stood and shouted "Shame!" after a lopsided voice vote of approval Thursday in the House Ways and Means Committee.
Two-thirds of the states have adopted such "shall-issue" handgun permit rules, thanks in part to a concerted effort by the National Rifle Association (NRA). Boudreau said the NRA figured prominently in the final compromises on the bill Thursday.
Her bill now goes to the House floor, where passage is expected by at least the 85-46 bipartisan margin that a similar measure enjoyed in 2001. Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty has said he will sign it, leaving the DFL-controlled Senate as the only possible stumbling block.
A companion bill to Boudreau's was pulled from the Senate Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee by its sponsor, Sen. Pat Pariseau, R-Farmington, and isn't advancing. On Wednesday, the panel sent to the Senate floor a rival bill sponsored by Sen. Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing, which would retain discretion for authorities to deny permits but allow unsuccessful applicants new channels for appeal.
Conrad deFiebre is at [email protected].
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Revamped handgun bill sent to House floor
Conrad deFiebre, Star Tribune
Published April 4, 2003 GUNS04
With a few more tweaks to one of the most hotly debated Minnesota policy initiatives of the past decade, a bill to make permits to carry handguns available to more people advanced Thursday to the House floor.
Proponents claimed they made a major concession Thursday: allowing sheriffs to deny permits on evidence of an applicant's potential dangerousness "as far back as the records go," said House sponsor Lynda Boudreau, R-Faribault. In previous versions of the bill, only documented incidents in the previous three years could have been considered.
"I want to assure that people who get permits are responsible folks," Boudreau said.
Other new elements in her bill included an increase in the maximum permit fee from $60 to $100, doubling the time allowed to check an applicant's background from 15 days to 30 and placing less burden on businesses that bar handguns from their premises.
Relieved of having to store permitholders' firearms and assume strict liability for their loss or for injury to their owners, several business groups endorsed the bill.
But some legislators complained that no similar allowances were made for public facilities besides schools, courthouses and the State Capitol. Under the bill, for example, a city hall could not be posted off-limits to guns.
Boudreau replied that that's also true under current law. Her bill, she said, adds many safeguards not now on the books, including more training, broader background checks and a new statewide database of permitholders.
Opponents argue that those restrictions are needed only because sheriffs and police chiefs will be stripped of broad discretion to deny permits. That fundamental change is projected to increase the number of Minnesotans licensed to pack heat on the street from fewer than 12,000 now to 90,000 within three years.
It also is a key reason why all of Minnesota's major law enforcement groups oppose the change. And why some members of the Million Mom March organization stood and shouted "Shame!" after a lopsided voice vote of approval Thursday in the House Ways and Means Committee.
Two-thirds of the states have adopted such "shall-issue" handgun permit rules, thanks in part to a concerted effort by the National Rifle Association (NRA). Boudreau said the NRA figured prominently in the final compromises on the bill Thursday.
Her bill now goes to the House floor, where passage is expected by at least the 85-46 bipartisan margin that a similar measure enjoyed in 2001. Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty has said he will sign it, leaving the DFL-controlled Senate as the only possible stumbling block.
A companion bill to Boudreau's was pulled from the Senate Crime Prevention and Public Safety Committee by its sponsor, Sen. Pat Pariseau, R-Farmington, and isn't advancing. On Wednesday, the panel sent to the Senate floor a rival bill sponsored by Sen. Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing, which would retain discretion for authorities to deny permits but allow unsuccessful applicants new channels for appeal.
Conrad deFiebre is at [email protected].
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