Bid to Remove ‘Duty to Retreat’ From Minnesota Law Fails After Walz Launches Attack on Legislation

A bill that would have clarified that Minnesotans have no duty to retreat before acting to defend themselves or others from harm failed to pass the state House by a single vote on Thursday, though there’s a slight chance that the bill could be revived in the days ahead.

HF 13 was subjected to a sustained campaign of disinformation from gun control groups like Moms Demand Action and anti-gun politicians like Gov. Tim Walz, who used the power of the podium to misinform and terrify voters about the impact the bill could have on their own personal safety.

Governor Walz lied during his budget press conference today saying that HF 13, the duty to retreat elimination bill, allows you to “shoot somebody for taking your parking spot.”

WATCH HF 13 ON THE FLOOR AT 3:30 TODAY: https://t.co/FWpwmETGVb

TAKE ACTION:… pic.twitter.com/wmAgXEsuZt

— MN Gun Owners Caucus (@mnguncaucus) March 6, 2025

Remember when Walz was supposed to be the Second Amendment savior for Democrats? The gun owner who could speak from the heart and shoot from the hip about the need for “common sense” gun measures while still respecting our right to keep and bear arms? I guess now that Walz isn’t measuring the drapes in the Naval Observatory he can drop his attempts to camouflage his hostility toward our Second Amendment rights and let loose whoppers like the one highlighted by the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus. 

For the record, HF 13 merely allows for the use of “reasonable force” without a duty to retreat in a number of specific settings, none of which involve someone taking your parking space. In fact, the legislation doesn’t add or expand on any of circumstances where reasonable force can be used at all. It simply adds a single sentence to current statute: “An actor may use reasonable force under the circumstances described in paragraph
(a), clause (3), regardless of whether a reasonable possibility of retreat to avoid the danger exists.”

In Minnesota, you can use force, even deadly force, to defend yourself provided you first try to get away from your attacker and your counterforce is commensurate with the danger you are facing.

And that “duty to retreat” legal standard will remain the case because the House was…

— MN Gun Owners Caucus (@mnguncaucus) March 7, 2025

The procedural move taken by House Majority Leader Harry Niska allows for HF 13 to be brought back up for reconsideration, but it would take a political miracle to convince enough Democrats to get on board that Walz’s certain veto could be overridden. Ultimately, Walz’s big lie won the day on Thursday, and Minnesotans are less safe than they should be as a result of his duplicity and the campaign of fear carried out by the gun control lobby.