Gun control advocates appear to be armed and ready to reintroduce several measures when the 2025 legislative session gets underway in January. Unlike the last two years, however, gung-ho anti-gun rights DFL legislators no longer control the Minnesota House, making prospects for passage of any further restrictions highly improbable. Of course, as InForum points out, that won’t stop some lawmakers from trying.
Two gun control bills set to resurface this year are the safe storage and lost or stolen firearms reporting bills. The safe storage bill mandates gun owners store firearms unloaded and equipped with a locking device or in a firearm storage unit. The reporting bill requires missing firearms to be reported to local law enforcement within 48 hours of discovering they’re gone.
Both bills passed the House and stalled in the Senate last session, but as the 2025 session approaches, lawmakers looking to bring the bills back see little hope.
That doesn’t mean Second Amendment defenders won’t be on guard at the Capitol anyway. The new legislative session may turn out to be a bit like the wild west. The GOP will have a temporary majority in the House, while the DFL will be in control of the Senate, not to mention special elections slated in each body.
[Senior VP Rob] Doar said the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus is approaching the session with less alarm than when the DFL had majorities.
“It’s not quite the level of concern that we had at last session with the Democrats regaining control and kind of putting typically anti-gun politicians in key committee positions, so there is a little bit of relief there, but they’re going to adjust their strategies and tactics to try to pass things on their agenda, and we’ll have to be on the lookout for that,” he said.
Even with lowered expectations, DFL-Rep. Kaohly Vang Her will introduce the same controversial safe storage gun bill that failed to pass last session in an attempt to keep it relevant.
“These types of bills, the votes fall on party line,” Her said. “And maybe the bill doesn’t pass this year, but to just provide some education so that people are aware of what is being done and why this is really important, I think might be a really big step to take this year.”
Her said the tie in the Minnesota House, which is now looking to be a GOP majority for the moment with a DFL seat vacant, alongside a DFL majority in the Senate, “will pose a challenge.”
So there’s no cease-fire on pushing additional gun control restrictions in the new legislative session. But gun owners won’t have to look over their shoulders as much as the last two years.