By T.W. Budig
ECM capitol reporter

The Senate repassed a concealed carry bill on Friday (May 13) on a stronger vote than two years ago.

Sen. Pat Pariseauís legislation had been amended in Senate committee to allow local government to ban gun permit holders from carrying firearms in parks and public buildings.

Other amendment, such as requiring gun permit applicants to be fingerprinted, were also added.

But no major amendments stuck to the bill by the end of the five hour Senate floor debate.

ìI hope we have a seamless permitting system for the whole state,î said Pariseau, R-Farmington, after the Senate voted 44 to 21 to pass the concealed carry bill.

Pariseau, who spent years trying to change state gun permit law to make issuance of gun permits less subjective, declared the bill emerging from the Senate as ìnot bad.î

ìI donít see any major changes, no,î she said of difference between the new legislation and the old law passed by the Legislature in 2003.

The 2003 legislation was declared unconstitutional by a Ramsey County district court judge on the grounds it violated the single subject rule of the Minnesota Constitution ñ it had been attached to an unrelated bill, the judge ruled.

The ruling was upheld by the Minnesota Court of Appeals in April. Currently, the gun permitting process reflects prior 2003 law.

One key change that does exist between the 2003 legislation and new concealed carry bill pertains to notification. The 2003 law required property owners to both post their building with a sign prohibiting guns, and also offer verbal notification. The new legislation allows for either forms.

Pariseau, in an amendment offered on the Senate floor, removed the additional restrictions placed on the bill in committee, largely by DFLers.

DFL senators attempted to the restrictions back into the bill, though repeatedly failed.

One amendment, offered by Sen. Leo Foley, DFL-Coon Rapids, would have prohibited carrying a gun into a religious establishment unless notice had been given that firearms are permitted. The amendment failed 31 to 34.

Sen. Mike McGinn, R-Eagan, a former St. Paul Police Department commander, said had the committee amendments remained on the bill, he would have voted for it.

ìI really hoped it (the amendments) would have stuck,î said McGinn, who mistakenly voted for concealed carry two years year ago, he has explained.

The two recent concealed carry bills are stronger law than the gun permit law existing prior to 2003, said McGinn. But the latest bill could have been better.

ìI believe we fell down on it,î he said.

For instance, gun permits applicants could have been trained not to carry a gun into religious establishments, McGinn explained.

ìAnd people would have understood ñ you donít bring a gun to a church,î he said.

The latest concealed carry bill passed the Senate seven votes stronger than the first.

Pariseau attributes the increased support to the absence of negative incidents during the time the old law was in effect.

ìTwo years of nothing to talk about,î said Pariseau. ìIt showed itself to be a good, quality model,î she said of the law.
The House has not yet passed a concealed carry bill this session.

Among local senators, besides McGinn, the only other senator who changed his vote from two years ago was Sen. Bill Belanger, R-Bloomington.

Belanger voted against the bill two years ago.

Local senators voting for the latest concealed carry legislation were: Bachmann, Belanger, Gerlach, Johnson, Debbie, Jungbauer, Kierlin, Kleis, Limmer, Nienow, Ourada, Pariseau, Reiter, and Wergin.

Voting against: Betzold, Chaudhary, Foley, and McGinn.

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