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Honorable Mayor/President and City Council Members/EDA Members January 22, 2018 Page 3 A. Minnesota Personal Protection Act The MPPA is the set of laws which provides individuals with the authority to obtain permits to carry firearms in the state of Minnesota.' That law provides that anyone who carries, holds, or possesses a pistol in a vehicle or on their person without first having obtained a permit is guilty of a misdemeanor, or a felony on the second offence.4 That law also goes on to exclude certain activities from the permit requirement. Notably with respect to the discussion of a proposed gun range, the transportation of a pistol in a motor vehicle is permitted, without a permit, so long as the pistol is in a closed and fastened case, gunbox, or securely tied package.5 State law also provides that the MPPA "shall be construed to supersede municipal or county regulation of the carrying or possessing of pistols and the regulation of Saturday night special pistols."6 Based on this, any local regulation which seeks to regulate the carrying of pistols is likely to face legal challenge.7 B. Regulation on the Discharge of Firearms The legislature has also expressly preempted the City's authority to "regulate firearms, ammunition, or their respective components to the complete exclusion of any order, ordinance or regulation" except that the City may both "regulate the discharge of firearms" and "adopt regulations identical to state law."8 Further, the City may "regulate, by reasonably, nondiscriminatory, and nonarbitrary zoning ordinances, the location of businesses where firearms are sold by a firearms dealer."9 Relying on this authority, many cities across Minnesota have adopted ordinances which limit or restrict the areas within which a firearm may be discharged. Some cities have prohibited the discharge of firearms anywhere within the City limits. Others have allowed for reasonable opportunities to discharge firearms for certain purposes and in certain locations, such as hunting in rural areas or target practice at a firing range. 3 Minn. Stat. § 624.714. 4 Notably, the MPPA is limited to the pistols, which are defined therein. 5 Minn. Stat. § 624.174, subd. 9; see also Mimi. Stat. § 9713.045, subd. 1 (providing additional regulation for the transportation of a firearm in a motor vehicle. 6 Minn. Stat. § 624.717. 7 Under state law, a pistol is defined as a weapon designed to be fired by the use of a single hand and with an overall length less than 26 inches, or having a barrel or barrels of a length less than 18 inches in the case of a shotgun or having a barrel of a length less than 16 inches in the case of a rifle (1) from which may be fired or ejected one or more solid projectiles by means of a cartridge or shell or by the action of an explosive or the igniting of flammable or explosive substances; or (2) for which the propelling force is a spring, elastic band, carbon dioxide, air or other gas, or vapor. "Pistol" does not include a device firing or ejecting a shot measuring .18 of an inch, or less, in diameter and commonly known as a "1313 gun," a scuba gun, a stud gun or nail gun used in the construction industry or children's pop guns or toys. Minn. Stat. § 624.712, subd. 2. S Minn. Stat. § 471.633. 9 Minn. Stat. § 471.635. 514948v2 AMB MU205-46