ST PAUL, Minn. — State capitol Democrats are moving to give cities and counties more say over where people can legally carry guns and other dangerous weapons.
Currently, only courthouses, schools and private businesses can declare gun-free zones. Local units of government aren't allowed to exclude people with carry permits from bringing guns to public facilities such as city halls, libraries, recreation centers and parks.
Rep. Samakab Hussein's legislation, House File 2828, would give cities control over which public facilities allow firearms to be legally carried.
"This is affecting my community. This is affecting my backyard, in my district, every day," Rep. Hussein, a St. Paul Democrat, told colleagues during a hearing in the House Public Safety Committee Tuesday.
"In the library, when I’m taking my kids, I don’t want people to have a gun. They should be having a pen and a book, and reading. Not a gun."
The Saint Paul and Ramsey County parks directors both testified in favor of the bill. Pang Yang, the deputy director of the Ramsey County Library system also urged lawmakers to pass the bill.
"While guns are currently not permitted in our schools, when the school day ends and our kids disperse to join programs and services offered in our libraries, at that point their protections end," Yang told lawmakers.
"I myself have seen people walk in with crossbows, with knives of varying sizes, and my colleagues across the state have had to engage with people with guns placed on public computer tables in view of others."
Minneapolis City Council Member Linea Palmisano lent her support to the legislation, pointing out that increasing numbers of people are coming to council meetings with serious grievances against elected leaders.
"I am proud to serve my community and I do so with no trepidation," Palmisano said. "But I also admit there have been times I have been concerned for my safety, the safety of my colleagues, and most importantly, the safety of the community in attendance."
In Jan. 2015, a disgruntled taxpayer named Raymond Kretz walked into a New Hope City Council meeting with a shotgun. He was shot dead by police officers, but not before he wounded two of them with a blast.
More recently, a St. Paul Parks employee shot 16-year-old JuVaughn Turner in the head at the Jimmy Lee Recreation Center. His older sister, Mercedes Yarbrough, testified in support of Hussein's bill.
"The ones who are opposed to it look a certain way and there’s no question why," Yarbrough said. "It’s the communities and people of color who are being affected by gun violence the most."
Saint Paul Democrat Dave Pinto's bill, House File 3672, would repeal the current ban on local municipalities crafting their own firearms regulations.
The committee voted to lay the bills over, which means they could be revived later as stand-alone bills or be folded into a larger public safety omnibus bill later in the 2024 Session.
"Guns are the leading cause of death of children and adolescents in this country and that’s why we’re hearing these bills," Public Safety Chair Kelly Moller, a Shoreview Democrat, told colleagues.
"These are important discussions to have, and I’m glad we’re having them."
Republicans uniformly opposed both bills, contending that legally purchased guns aren't a major public safety threat.
"You can say guns kill people, but people kill people, folks!" Rep. Matt Grossell, a Clearbrook Republican, said. "I could take my Glock out and set it on the table, and it’s not gonna do it by itself. Nobody will be hurt by it!"
Rep. Cedrick Frazier, a New Hope Democrat, said the bill is about local control and choice.
"This bill is about giving local government the opportunity to protect the people that come into their public spaces. I’m a former city council member. This tool would’ve been great to have," Frazier said.
Opponents say the proposed changes will result in confusion about which laws apply in which cities and will only harm law-abiding, responsible gun owners.
"By allowing each locality to determine their own rules about what government buildings and land are legal to carry in, you’d be creating a patchwork of rules that has no effect, other than to stifle our right to self-defense and entrap law-abiding carry licensees into breaking the law," Craig Burris, a firearms instructor, said.
Gun rights advocates say being asked to store their weapons inside their cars could wind up creating more gun violence.
"Now what we’re asking here is people engaging in the civic process — who have every right to carry in every other walk of life in the public community — now have to go put their firearms in their vehicles," Rob Doar of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus asserted.
"I think this exasperates the very thing we’re trying to prevent, of actually guns getting into the hands of the wrong people and not hands in the guns of people who have been trained, certified, background checked every single year."
Rep. Paul Novotny, an Elk River Republican, said none of the perpetrators in the cases cited by proponents, would've been stopped by a ban on firearms. He contended that people with gun permits actually increase safety inside a public building.
"I would submit that restricting conceal-carry from facilities makes you less safe, because in many cases a good guy with a firearm is the solving of the problem."
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