Minnesota House Passes Sweeping Gun Control Legislation Including Bill for Safe Storage of Firearms

(KNSI) — The Minnesota House has passed HF 4300, the Safe Storage of Firearms Bill.

It requires firearms to be stored either unloaded and equipped with a locking device or placed in a locked firearm storage unit, such as a gun safe or a locked gun room, where they may be either loaded or unloaded. The requirement doesn’t apply to firearms under the person’s direct physical control or reach.

Gun control advocates and proponents of the bill noted most responsible gun owners safely secure their firearms, but “the reality is that too many gun owners do not.” A press release from the House says, “The vast majority of unintentional shooting deaths of children occur at home,” citing the death of three-year-old Thomas Pauza-Moore, who, in August 2023, was sent upstairs to charge a phone while his dad, Roy Pauza-Moore, played video games downstairs. In the closet of his dad’s room, Thomas found a loaded handgun sitting on top of an unlocked safe and shot himself in the head. He died three weeks shy of his fourth birthday.

It also mentioned safe storage of firearms could prevent suicide. In a study from 2022 (which is the most recent data available), 569 people in the state died due to gun-related violence. Of those, 407 were suicides. A 2021 study showed that 44% of those who attempt suicide decide to do so in less than ten minutes, and “even the slightest impediment to accessing a firearm – such as a trigger lock or gun safe – could provide a person struggling with suicidal ideation enough time to reconsider their decision.”

After 11 hours of debate, the measure passed 68-64 and moved on to the Senate.

Governor Tim Walz praised the bill’s passage, saying, “As a gun-owner, veteran, hunter, and dad, I know that basic gun safety is a critical part of responsible gun ownership. I applaud the House for passing a trio of common sense bills that would make Minnesota safer by making sure guns don’t fall into the wrong hands. I am ready to sign this legislation into law as soon as it reaches my desk.”

The other bills would stiffen the penalty for straw buyers, create a ban on binary trigger devices, and a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $40,000 fine if the transferee “possesses or uses the weapon in furtherance of an assault of a public safety officer or any other offense that causes bodily harm to a public safety officer.”

The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus calls the bills an infringement on Second Amendment rights.

___