St. Paul and Minneapolis mayors, along with some suburban mayors, on Tuesday spelled out local firearm-related ordinances they want to put in place to reduce violence.
They called again on the state to repeal a preemption law that bars cities and counties from regulating firearms, ammunition or their components.
St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said his city and others plan to propose a set of policies on four topics, which he described as:
• “Ban the public possession of assault weapons.”
• “Ban … devices that turn regular guns into machine guns.”
• “Ban guns in libraries, and parks and rec centers, and sensitive civic spaces.”
• “Require every gun to have a serial number.”
“Those things have two things in common: One, … the vast majority of Minnesotans think that’s the bare minimum of what we ought to be doing on guns,” Carter said at a press conference at the Capitol in St. Paul. “And two, there are a number of leaders right here in this building, in our Legislature, who says that’s far too much.”
After the Aug. 27 shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis, which killed two children and injured dozens more, Gov. Tim Walz said he would call a special session of the Legislature to address gun policy.
Walz walked back his calls for a special session last week. He said holding one would be a waste of time without an agreement on a framework ahead of time from Republicans. Initially, he had said he would hold a special session “one way or another.”
The governor said he plans on holding a series of townhalls on guns.
Carter said Tuesday: “We have asked, and we’re asking again, for our state to either act and set those things into law statewide, or remove the preemptions that prevent cities from being able to implement these laws.”
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House Public Safety Chair Rep. Paul Novotny, R-Elk River, said in September that the state firearm preemption law safeguards “Minnesotans from a confusing patchwork of local rules that could turn law-abiding citizens into criminals simply for crossing a city or county line.
“The Second Amendment does not change depending on your zip code, and every law-abiding Minnesotan deserves the same right to protect themselves and their family no matter what city or county they are currently in,” his statement continued. “Constitutional freedoms shall not be infringed by a county or city government, and I trust the courts would agree.”
Alex Derosier contributed to this report.
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