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Minnesota Open Carry Laws |
Legal information provided is for reference and not legal advice. Consult an attorney for specific legal concerns.
Legal information provided is for reference and not legal advice. Consult an attorney for specific legal concerns.
Gun control remains a controversial topic in the daily news feed. At one end is the right for citizens to bear arms for traditional reasons like self-defense, while at the other is the challenge to public safety when governments appear helpless to end mass shootings throughout the nation. In recent years, there has been little agreement at the federal level on gun laws. In Minnesota and other states, striking a reasonable balance often falls to state legislators and officials.
Federal law begins with a review of the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and its interpretation by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Second Amendment states:
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed.”
In the case of District of Columbia v. Heller (2008), the Supreme Court found that the Second Amendment provides an individual right to possess or own a gun for self-defense. More recently, in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (2022), the Court ruled that this right extends to arming oneself in public. These decisions altered the landscape of the litigation of gun rights in America.
As a result, any state regulation today may face a challenge in court. Courts will assess whether the law in question aligns with a traditional framework for firearms regulation in U.S. history.
Congress has faced conflict over gun rights and gun control for some time, so changes in federal firearms law are rare. Under the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA), the federal government regulates interstate commerce in firearms. It requires those who manufacture, sell, or import firearms as their business to obtain a federal firearms license. Private sellers who don’t engage in firearm sales for profit like a business fall outside the regulation scheme.
Federal law bans citizens from owning machine guns. It also sets forth categories of persons prohibited from possession of a firearm, such as felons and those convicted of domestic violence. The GCA bars a firearm dealer from selling shotguns and rifles (long guns) to those under 18 years of age and handguns to those under 21 years of age. Under its Brady Act amendments, it set up the National Background Check System (NICS) and a minimum waiting period to allow background checks to occur.
Federal law provides a baseline for firearm regulation. It provides a floor that states cannot go below. Typically, state gun laws provide additional regulations that balance protecting the public from gun violence with the rights of gun owners. This can appear in state-issued waiting periods, registration requirements, concealed carry permitting, and further prohibitions on who may own, possess, or use a firearm.
Minnesota gun laws do not require the registration of firearms. A citizen can purchase traditional rifles and shotguns without a permit. Purchase of a handgun, however, requires a valid permit that will include a criminal background check. Likewise, the purchase or transfer of a pistol or a semi-automatic military-style assault weapon will require completing a purchase/transfer permit.
Applicants for a gun permit in Minnesota must undergo a criminal background check through the Minnesota Crime Information System and the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Those seeking to purchase a firearm may seek a permit from their local police chief or county sheriff.
Minnesota also requires a gun permit to carry a gun in public. A permit to carry constitutes a permit to purchase as well, so you do not have to seek two permits in that circumstance. Minnesota’s regulatory scheme makes it a “shall issue” state. This means that the state has objective criteria for eligibility. If a person meets the criteria, then the government shall issue the permit. Issuance does not occur at the subjective discretion of the police chief or sheriff.
In general, you need a permit to carry a firearm in a motor vehicle and must transport it unloaded and under safe storage regulations.
There are some situations where a permit to carry is not required, such as:
- To keep or carry about the place of business, home, premises, or on land one controls
- To carry a pistol from the purchase point to one’s home, or business, or for repairs
- To carry a pistol between one’s home and place of business
- To carry a pistol in the woods, fields, or upon the waters for hunting or target shooting in a safe area
- To transport a pistol in a motor vehicle, snowmobile, or boat if it is unloaded and properly secured
Minnesota law also sets out prohibited locations for firearms in certain public places and in private locations where the owner has posted clear signs or personally notified the gun possessor. These locations may be off limits whether engaged in concealed carry or open carry.
The law bans possession of a firearm on school property. School property includes any public or private elementary, middle, or secondary school campus, a school bus that is transporting school children, or a childcare center when children are present.
Minnesota also has a state preemption law that works to restrict local governments from passing firearm regulations that conflict with state law on the same issue.
Minnesota’s gun control laws can be found in Minnesota Statutes:
- Section 609.66: Dangerous Weapons; Prohibition on firearms on school property
- Section 609.67: Machine Guns and Short-Barreled Shotguns
- Section 624.713: Certain Persons Not to Possess Firearms
- Section 624.7132: Report of Transfer of Firearms
The following firearms and devices are illegal to possess, with the exception of law enforcement officers and members of the Armed Forces:
- Machine guns or machine gun conversion kits
- Short-barreled shotguns
- Trigger activators
Minnesota also bans the possession or use of:
- Spring guns
- Saturday Night Special pistols
- Swivel guns and set guns (deer hunting)
There is a 30-day waiting period for handguns and military-style assault weapons. The police chief or sheriff can waive any portion of the waiting period in situations where they determine the applicant is not disqualified before the expiration of the time period or that access is required sooner due to a threat to the life of the applicant or any family members in their household.
- Minors, but federal and state regulations may provide limited exceptions like under parental supervision, and as of 2024 there is pending legislation challenging this
- Persons subject to an extreme risk protection order (red flag law)
- Persons prohibited under federal law (See 18 U.S.C. Section 922g)
- A person convicted of domestic assault with a firearm, stalking, and certain other crimes
- A person with a protection order for domestic violence or domestic child abuse
- A person convicted of a crime of violence, including juvenile adjudications and those in diversion programs, unless the case is now dismissed
- A person convicted of certain misdemeanors and gross misdemeanors set forth in the statute in the last three years, including domestic assault against a family or household member
- A person who is or has ever been committed by judicial determination to be mentally ill, developmentally disabled, or mentally ill and dangerous to the public, to a treatment facility, or found incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of mental illness and not restored
- A person convicted for unlawful use, possession, or sale of a controlled substance, with exceptions for certain marijuana use for those 21 or over
- A person who’s been committed for treatment for habitual use of a controlled substance or marijuana or for being chemically dependent and rights have not been restored
- A peace officer who is informally admitted to a treatment facility for chemical dependency unless they receive a certificate for discharge
- A person who is an alien, illegally or unlawfully in the U.S.
- A person who has renounced U.S. citizenship
- A person who was dishonorably discharged from the armed forces
- A person who is a fugitive from justice
- A person who has been convicted of a crime punishable by over one year in prison
Minnesota does not require a license. It requires a permit to purchase a handgun or a semi-automatic military-style assault weapon.
