News

Going to the State Fair? Beware of Snakes!

Anti-gun Metrocrat legislators are continuing to push for universal gun registration, hidden in a bill that supposedly would close the mythical “gun show loophole.”

At the State Fair, visitors to the Minnesota House of Representatives booth will be encouraged to fill out a “poll,” whose first question is, “When someone wants to purchase a firearm at a gun show, should a background check on the buyer be required prior to the sale?“

The only safe answer to this question is, “NO!”  A better answer would be “No, I don’t support Representative Paymar’s backdoor gun registration bill.”  Spread the word and forward this email to as many freedom-loving Minnesotans as you can.

Here are this year’s poll questions being offered to fair-goers at the House of Representatives booth in the Education Building on Cosgrove Street just north of Dan Patch Avenue.

#1.  ”When someone wants to purchase a firearm at a gun show, should a background check on the buyer be required prior to the sale?”

Pay very close attention to the wording. The question deceptively fails to differentiate between federally licensed firearms dealers and private party sales.

A Short History

Anti-gun lobbyists have been  been trying to pass similar legislation for years. The primary author for this agenda is Representative Michael Paymar (DFL 64B). The evolution of these bills tips their hand and shows us the ultimate goal: draconian gun control, elimination of private party sales, and total gun registration. Much like the camel’s nose under the tent, if we don’t vigorously oppose this now we’ll eventually end up with the whole package in incremental steps. These laws have never been shown to reduce crime!

As recently as 2007-2008, despite the fact that Minnesota already had a functioning transferee permit process and statutes covering both private party sales and sales to ineligible persons, the anti-gun lobbyists pushed House File 3324. This was a very expensive and overreaching piece of legislation which would have done nothing more than make firearms less accessible for law abiding citizens. The bill attempted to eliminate private property transfers between law abiding citizens and register all firearms transfers in a state-wide database.

HF 3324 defined a “firearms collectors’ exhibition” as: any event at which 50 or more firearms are offered or exhibited for transfer; and two or more persons are offering or exhibiting one or more firearms for transfer.

In 2009-2010 the anti-gun lobby offered House File 2960, defining gun shows as: the entire premises open to the public for the event or function, that is sponsored and has the primary purpose of facilitating, in whole or in part, the purchase, sale, or offer for sale, of firearms at which 25 or more firearms are offered  for transfer, and three or more persons are offering one or more firearms for transfer”.

Beware of Camels, Too

The anti-gun lobby is constantly seeking to get its nose under the tent and its control on our rights. Now they’re attempting to build support early with a deceptively worded, misleading poll at the State Fair.  They keep stepping back and trying for a little less of the pie but the intent is clear: they want to take your guns away.

The anti-gun agenda has been defeated in every committee whether offered as bills or attached to other legislation as amendments. That didn’t happen by accident. It took constant attention and repeated action by GOCRA and gun owners like you.

The battle on this issue starts today

Please get the word out that this question cannot be taken at face value and the only safe answer is NO. ANY other answer plays into the future plans of anti-gun legislators! Please tell your friends, family, and Representatives that question #1 is vague, deceptive, and unacceptable.

And please forward this email to everybody you know, and ask them to sign up, today, at http://www.gocra-mn.org/join.html to receive these eblasts.  And then after visiting the Minnesota House of Representative booth and voting a resounding no, enjoy yourself at the State Fair, armed with the knowledge that the Metrocrats are, yet again, trying to pull a fast one, and that we caught them red-handed, again.

Thank you for your time and support.

Your GOCRA Team

Click here to make a donation to GOCRA. Without your support, it would not be possible to continue the fight for your rights.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

John Caile
Minnesota Gun Owners’ Civil Rights Alliance
www.gocra-mn.org

Minnesota Handgun Carry Permit Holders Pass 75,000 Mark

In just over seven years, more than 75,000 law-abiding citizens have undertaken the training, background checks and expenses of obtaining a Minnesota Permit to Carry a Pistol, often erroneously referred to as a “Conceal and Carry” permit.

St. Paul, Minn, June 3, 2010 – Just over seven years after its passage, the Minnesota Citizens’ Personal Protection Act of 2003 has resulted in over 75,000 people who now have active carry permits, a 500% increase over the number in effect before the law was reformed.

According to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, there were 75,583 active permits as of May 31, 2010.

The MCPPA, passed in 2003, allows any U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident who has taken state-approved training, paid a fee, and passed strict criminal, chemical abuse and mental health background checks to receive a five-year permit to carry a handgun in most public places.

Under the prior, “may-issue” law, those seeking a permit needed to convince local law enforcement officials that they had a personal or professional need to carry a pistol. Police chiefs and sheriffs had almost unlimited discretion to issue or deny a permit, for any or no reason, and permit issuance varied widely from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

After the law was briefly overturned in court in July 2004, based on the “single subject” rule, the Minnesota legislature re-passed it in May 2005 as a stand-alone bill, by an even wider margin than before.

“Increasingly, personal protection is becoming more widely and socially accepted,” said David Gross, a criminal defense attorney, member of the GOCRA board, and long-time advocate for the right of self defense. He points at the recent controversy manufactured by gun control advocates over law-abiding citizens carrying holstered guns into Starbucks coffee shops. Starbucks refused to give in to demands that it ban gun-carrying customers.

“That is literally visible here in Minnesota, too,” he said, “The number of ‘bans guns’ signs continues to dwindle as businesses return the respect shown by gun owners.”

Even vocal opponents of the law, like former Olmsted County Sheriff Steve Borchardt, revised their opinions as law-abiding Minnesotans remained law abiding after earning permits.”The fact is the sky didn’t fall,” he told KARE11 in 2005. “The fact is it worked pretty seamlessly.”

The latest Minnesota Department of Public Safety permit report, as well as a history of permit counts, can be found on the GOCRA web site at http://www.gocra-mn.org/faq.html.

For additional information, contact John Caile, Minnesota Gun Owners’ Civil Rights Alliance, at (612) 240-6080.

About Minnesota Gun Owners’ Civil Rights Alliance:

GOCRA and its subsidiary, Concealed Carry Reform, NOW!, worked for seven years to secure passage of the Minnesota Citizens’ Personal Protection Act, and continues to act as the state’s gun rights watchdog, defending and advancing the human right of self defense in the state of Minnesota.

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Read the whole thing and consider bringing the form to your next visit to the doctor.

Utah Defensive-Display Bill Introduced: More guns may be making appearances in confrontations across Utah, adding intensity, for better or worse. Newly proposed legislation would be a green light for concealed-gun owners to openly carry firearms and, if threatened, draw or exhibit their weapons and verbally threaten deadly force… The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem, said HB78 clarifies existing law with “affirmative language” that would provide gun owners another option to defend themselves or others around them. “This allows a gun owner to not have to go all the way and actually fire his gun,” Sandstrom said. “This would still be the very last resort, however. It doesn’t give you the right to just flash a gun at anyone who makes you mad.” The proposal officially allows Utahns to openly carry firearms and inform others that they are carrying a gun, not currently illegal, but not codified in law. The bill only applies to individuals who have concealed weapons permits, and “brandishing” a gun for anything less than self-defense will still be illegal…

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705359364/Guns-could-be-easily-brandished-under-proposed-law.html

Important Message for All Minnesota Carry Permit Holders!

In early December, Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher sent a fund raising letter to Ramsey County carry permit holders, using names and addresses that were improperly taken from the Sheriff’s permit to carry database. The letter invited carry permit holders in Ramsey County to a shoot in a private outing at the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Office indoor firearms range.

If you received such a letter from Sheriff Fletcher inviting you to shoot at his charity event, your privacy rights have been violated.  GOCRA urges you to join in a criminal complaint filed with the St. Paul Police Department.   Sheriff Fletcher violated Minnesota Data Privacy Laws by using permit to permit to carry files for activities that were not official business.

The text of the letter is available here: http://www.gocra-mn.org/news/ramsey-county-illegal-invitation/

On the surface, this may look harmless.  It might even seem like a “nice” thing to do.  However, this is a serious violation and needs to be addressed.

First, using this data for such a purpose is in direct violation of the law!

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bin/getpub.php?type=s&num=624.714

Subd. 14. Records. (a) A sheriff must not maintain records or data collected, made, or held under this section concerning any applicant or permit holder that are not necessary under this section to support a permit that is outstanding or eligible for renewal under subdivision 7

The translation: permit holder data is only to be used for issuing or renewing permits.  Any other use is illegal.  A Sheriff should know this. Further, this data is specifically classified as private criminal justice data per MN Stat. 13.87, Subd. 2.  This is clearly a misuse of the data.

In the late 1980s, Chief Judge Douglas Amdahl of the Court of Appeals did, in essence, the same thing and was disciplined for his use of public position, stationary, stamps, etc. to benefit his favored charity groups. He targeted lawyers who appeared before his court.  In essence, that is the same misuse of power that Fletcher is attempting to do.

Second, and equally important, such actions put personal, private data on permit holders out into the public domain – with potential for unchecked abuse.

So, what can we do? What we must do is:

If you are a resident of Ramsey County, GOCRA urges you to join the complaint filed with the St. Paul Police Department. The case number for the complaint against Sheriff Fletcher regarding the misuse of carry permit holder data is CN 09273/732.

The St. Paul Police Department (www.stpaul.gov) is located at:

After joining the complaint, forward a copy of it to the Ramsey County Attorney and the Ramsey County Board.

Do it now! Your rights are hanging in the balance.