MN: Lawmakers hope to regulate private gun sales

KSTP News ^ | 02/21/2008 04:45:39 PM | Nicole Muehlhausen

[traviskicks]

Libertarian ping! To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.

[traviskicks]

I don’t think funding of police departments has any correlation with crime rates. But I do agree with you about mass transit schemes and eco schemes. :)

[MNJohnnie]

True, you have a point.

BUT there is a correlation between police presence and crime reduction. So the solution to “automatic weapons fire every night” is more cops on the street combined with aggressive prosecution of criminals not more laws.

Minneapolis has been short funding their cops and fire departments for years to fund feel good “prestige” projects.

They also are the nation's capitol of silly socialists Judges and stupid "rehabilitation" schemes. We have more violent felons walking around in this state because of the stupid weak prosecution team in Minneapolis backed up by really silly limousines liberal judges

[rickomatic]

Here’s how it works:
I call 612-MNCHECK.
The operator answers “Minnesota Instant Check, may I have the buyer’s speaker's name, please?”
I say “John Q. Smith.”,
They ask: “Address?”
I provide that from the buyer’s speaker's drivers license. (Maybe also provide the DL number.)
“Please hold...”
“...thank you for holding...your buyer speaker is not disqualified from purchasing firearms stating an opinion, thank you. Your record number for this verification is Q7KP456, please make a note of it.”
(Note that this could be entirely automated, including on the Internet.)

There....I fixed it. After all....we wouldn't want to limit this to just one of our rights.

[rickomatic]

Does he mean automatic as in machine guns? Otherwise, he is not hearing automatic fire. Machine guns that are operable on automatic are not legal except by the military and law enforcement.

Not true. The 1934 gun control act put a $200 tax on the transfer of machine guns and a few other "destructive devices". In 1986 President Reagan signed legislation that outlawed the transfer of any "newly manufactured" machine guns to private citizens. Dealer's could still manufacture new machine guns for law enforcement, military, and the trade (read: dealer post samples). Neither of these outlawed the possesion or transfer of automatic weapons to private citizens. It only taxed said transfer and cut off the supply, driving prices up 10-20 fold.
Now....some states, such as my home state of Washington does in fact prohibit private ownership of machine guns, federal law notwithstanding.
Even with that, there hs only been one case that I am aware of of a murder having been comitted since 1934 with a registered machine gun. And that was by an off duty cop.

[rickomatic]

LachlanMinnesota,

Do a YouTube search for Knob Creek. You will see there that fully automatic weapons are very alive and well in the good old U S of A despite all the regulations.

[jdege]

How any legislator can bring up a bill like this in the face of all the evidence and an organized gun lobby is beyond me.

It's easy. The DFL is the majority party, again.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Of course we agree, but my “compromise” is a way to demonstrate that the goal is a confiscation database.

[TheKidster]

“I hear automatic gunfire at night from my bedroom,” said Samuels.

That’s cuz your TV is on and an action movie is playing silly

[ExSoldier]

Can this bozo name one functional weapon that could not be called dangerous?

Actually there is no such thing as a dangerous weapon. There are only dangerous people.

Assault is a behavior, not a device.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

I agree with you but I just thought it was hilarious to suggest that one gun is any more dangerous than another. They are tools and in the hands of a bad person, any gun can be dangerous because the bad person is dangerous...

[Lurker]

Can this bozo name one functional weapon that could not be called dangerous?

There are no dangerous weapons. There are only dangerous people.

L

[Old Teufel Hunden]

See post 31...

[WOBBLY BOB]

“...automatic gunfire at night from my bedroom.”

could just be the MPLS SWAT team raiding the wrong house again...

[jdege]

Just because NFA weapons are legal in some states doesn’t mean they’re legal in all.

Minnesota is a “Curio&Relic” state. The only MGs that can be legally owned by an individual here are those on the C&R list.

[TexasRepublic]

I have as much regard for such politicians as I do for cockroaches! As usual, the criminals won’t be affected such useless legislation.

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

The left is obsessed with seizing guns from LAW-ABIDING citizens, and leaving them in the hands of criminals.
Deliberately.

[LachlanMinnesota]

I seriously doubt it is in this lamebrain’s neighborhood. It would be helpful to know his address, but we never hear of automatic fire in Minnesota. That is the area to which I refer.

[Old Mountain man]

Automatic gunfire? Aren’t they already heavily regulated under Federal Law? Or did I miss the repeal?

[LachlanMinnesota]

You are right, I stand corrected. There are other circumstances under which machine guns (automatic weapons) may be owned than the purposes that I listed.) I relied on this law in Minnesota:

Minnesota Statutes § 609.67 MACHINE GUNS AND SHORT-BARRELED SHOTGUNS.

Subdivision 1. Definitions. (a) “Machine gun” means any firearm designed to discharge, or capable of discharging automatically more than once by a single function of the trigger.

(b) “Shotgun” means a weapon designed, redesigned, made or remade which is intended to be fired from the shoulder and uses the energy of the explosive in a fixed shotgun shell to fire through a smooth bore either a number of ball shot or a single projectile for each single pull of the trigger.

(c) “Short-barreled shotgun” means a shotgun having one or more barrels less than 18 inches in length and any weapon made from a shotgun if such weapon as modified has an overall length less than 26 inches.

(d) “Trigger activator” means a removable manual or power driven trigger activating device constructed and designed so that, when attached to a firearm, the rate at which the trigger may be pulled increases and the rate of fire of the firearm increases to that of a machine gun.

(e) “Machine gun conversion kit” means any part or combination of parts designed and intended for use in converting a weapon into a machine gun, and any combination of parts from which a machine gun can be assembled, but does not include a spare or replacement part for a machine gun that is possessed lawfully under section 609.67, subdivision 3.

Subd. 2. Acts prohibited. Except as otherwise provided herein, whoever owns, possesses, or operates a machine gun, any trigger activator or machine gun conversion kit, or a short-barreled shotgun may be sentenced to imprisonment for not more than five years or to payment of a fine of not more than $10,000, or both.

Subd. 3. Uses permitted. The following persons may own or possess a machine gun or short-barreled shotgun provided the provisions of subdivision 4 are complied with:

(1) law enforcement officers for use in the course of their duties;

(2) chief executive officers of correctional facilities and other personnel thereof authorized by them and persons in charge of other institutions for the retention of persons convicted or accused of crime, for use in the course of their duties;

(3) persons possessing machine guns or short-barreled shotguns which, although designed as weapons, have been determined by the superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension or the superintendent’s delegate by reason of the date of manufacture, value, design or other characteristics to be primarily collector’s items, relics, museum pieces or objects of curiosity, ornaments or keepsakes, and are not likely to be used as weapons;

(4) manufacturers of ammunition who possess and use machine guns for the sole purpose of testing ammunition manufactured for sale to federal and state agencies or political subdivisions;

(5) dealers and manufacturers who are federally licensed to buy and sell, or manufacture machine guns or short-barreled shotguns and who either use the machine guns or short-barreled shotguns in peace officer training under courses approved by the Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training, or are engaged in the sale of machine guns or short-barreled shotguns to federal and state agencies or political subdivisions; and

(6) persons employed by the Minnesota National Guard as security guards, for use in accordance with applicable federal military regulations.

Subd. 4. Report required. (a) A person owning or possessing a machine gun or short-barreled shotgun as authorized by subdivision 3, clause (1), (2), (3), or (4) shall, within ten days after acquiring such ownership or possession, file a written report with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, showing the person’s name and address; the person’s official title and position, if any; a description of the machine gun or short-barreled shotgun sufficient to enable identification thereof; the purpose for which it is owned or possessed; and such further information as the bureau may reasonably require.(b) A dealer or manufacturer owning or having a machine gun or short-barreled shotgun as authorized by subdivision 3, clause (5) shall, by the tenth day of each month, file a written report with the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension showing the name and address of the dealer or manufacturer and the serial number of each machine gun or short-barreled shotgun acquired or manufactured during the previous month.

Subd. 5. Exceptions. This section does not apply to members of the armed services of either the United States or the state of Minnesota for use in the course of their duties or to security guards employed by the Minnesota National Guard for use in accordance with applicable federal military regulations.

Subd. 6. Preemption. Laws 1977, chapter 255, supersedes all local ordinances, rules and regulations.

History: 1963 c 753 art 1 s 609.67; 1977 c 255 s 1,2; 1979 c 102 s 13; 1984 c 628 art 3 s 11; 1986 c 444; 1987 c 93 s 1,2; 1990 c 439 s 5; 1993 c 326 art 1 s 19,20; 1993 c 366 s 10; 2006 c 273 s 11,12