Democrats, who hold a one-vote majority in the Minnesota Senate, are poised to pass a gun control bill that includes “red flag” protective orders and expanded background checks. Nineteen other states have implemented similar legislation. “What we will be providing, ultimately, is a path forward for families and law enforcement who know someone is showing signs of crisis and danger,” said Senate Public Safety Committee Chairman Rob Latz, a Democrat, on the legislation.
democratic Senator from Minnesotaholding firm despite just a one-vote majority, they were poised Friday to pass gun control legislation strongly backed by the governor that would align the battleground state with others nationwide that have taken steps to keep guns out of the hands of people in crisis and criminals. .
The proposals include a “red flag law” that would allow authorities to ask courts for “extreme risk protection orders” to temporarily remove guns from people deemed an imminent threat to others or themselves. The provision is part of a broader public safety budget bill that also contains expanded background checks for weapons transfers.
“What we’re going to provide, ultimately, is a path forward for families and law enforcement who know someone is showing signs of crisis and danger,” said Sen. Rob Latz, D-St. Louis Park, Senate Public Safety Chairman. committee “And it will give them legal tools to separate people in crisis from the firearms around them.”
MINNESOTA LEGISLATORS CONSIDER ‘RED FLAG’ LAW AND EXPANSION OF BACKGROUND CHECKS
Nineteen other states have some form of red flag laws, Latz noted at a news conference, including several red states.
Across the country, some cracks have been opening in the pattern of Republican-controlled states loosening gun laws while Democratic states like Minnesota tighten them. GOP Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee wants to call a special session to approve what he has avoided calling a red flag law, calling it “toxic political etiquette.” And two Republicans on a Texas legislative committee broke ranks to raise the age to buy semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21. But it’s too soon to say the GOP is changing direction even amid a record pace of mass killings in the US
The overall package survived an initial test vote when all Democrats voted against a Republican motion to send it back to a House-Senate conference committee for further work.
Some rural Democratic senators had long been on the fence. But a key moment came Wednesday when one of them, Sen. Grant Hauschild of Hermantown, announced he would support the overarching bill. The two gun measures were not part of the public safety budget bill the Senate passed earlier. But they were added Wednesday to the conference committee that negotiated the final version, providing some political cover for the resisters by wrapping them in a much larger public safety package.
The debate was expected to last well into Friday afternoon. Republican minority leaders signaled in advance that they were upset with several firearms provisions that were added to the public safety bill in the conference committee that were not in the original version of the bill passed by the Senate.
FEDERAL JUDGE STRIKES DOWN MINNESOTA LAW BANING 18 TO 20-YEAR-OLDS FROM OBTAINING GUN PERMITS
Democrats who hold a more comfortable majority in the Minnesota House scheduled debate on the package late Friday night with the presumption that the Senate would pass it first. The House had already passed the gun measures as part of its original public safety bill. Democratic Gov. Tim Walz has repeatedly said he will sign the legislation.
The package also includes tougher restrictions on police use of no-knock orders. While it falls short of a ban, it allows only very limited exceptions.
GOP leaders objected to how the final version of the 522-page bill wasn’t released until around 2:30 a.m. Friday. Members may only vote for or against the report of a conference committee. They cannot amend it. And Republicans were upset that their votes were left out of the configuration of the final version, which they oppose second amendment and other reasons.
“This bill is really what bad legislation looks like,” Republican Minority Leader Lisa Demuth of Cold Spring said at a separate news conference. “The Democrats are in total control, but by a very small margin.”
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The Minnesota Legislature is rushing to complete work on the session’s major budget bills ahead of the May 22 adjournment deadline. House Speaker Melissa Hortman, D-Brooklyn Park, told reporters Thursday that she wants to adjourn early, either Thursday night or Friday morning. Senate Democratic leaders, however, have not accepted this.
