Minnesota Judge Strikes Down State’s Binary Trigger Ban

While the Minnesota legislature (and Fuddly governor)has been giving gun owners heartburn, the state’s judicial system has been delivering some surprisingly good opinions for Second Amendment supporters as of late. 

Earlier this month the state Supreme Court ruled that Minnesota can’t prohibit the possession of unserialized firearms, at least not for firearms not required to be serialized under federal law. And earlier today, a judge in liberal Ramsey County struck down the state’s ban on binary triggers; not on Second Amendment grounds, but because of how the law was was passed. From the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, which filed suit over the ban:

The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus secured a landmark constitutional victory today when Ramsey County District Court Judge Leonardo Castro struck down Minnesota’s binary trigger ban.

In Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus v. Walz, the court ruled that the Legislature violated the Minnesota Constitution’s single-subject rule by burying the ban deep inside the 1,400-page 2024 Tax Omnibus Bill.

The court permanently blocked enforcement of the ban.

“Today, the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus ended Minnesota’s binary trigger ban,” said Bryan Strawser, Chair of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus. “The Walz administration and anti-gun legislators tried to sneak an unconstitutional restriction into a massive omnibus bill. The court said no. Minnesota’s Constitution—not backroom deals—controls how laws are made in this state.”

“The State has repeatedly tried to bury gun control provisions inside sprawling omnibus bills. Today’s ruling makes clear that this practice violates the Minnesota Constitution, ” said Rob Doar, Senior Vice President of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus. “If lawmakers attempt to cram anti-gun measures into omnibus bills in the future, we will challenge them in court again—and our track record of victories should give them pause.”With today’s decision, the binary trigger ban is gone.The ruling reaffirms both the Second Amendment and Minnesotans’ constitutional right to transparent, single-subject lawmaking.

This strategy is something we spoke with Doar about on Cam & Company last week. While it would be great to get wins based on Second Amendment arguments, with the liberal makeup of Minnesota’s courts that’s not likely to happen. The federal Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals is a different story, since it was that court that ruled Minnesota’s carry ban for adults younger than 21 unconstitutional, but the state courts aren’t likely to be nearly as willing to acknowledge the fundamental importance of our Second Amendment rights. 

When it comes to things like ensuring that politicians are following the rules they themselves devised, though, the courts are a little more likely to just call balls and strikes. And in this case, the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus was able to show that the way the binary trigger ban was passed rendered it null and void. 

Even if no gun control language had been included in this omnibus bill, it would have violated the state’s constitution since it was packed full of legislative items were top priorities for Democrats but had nothing to do with each other and hadn’t been able to pass in regular order. The omnibus bill, passed in the waning hours of the legislative session, was never meant to stick to a single subject. It was a smorgasbord of liberal policies and practices that gave political cover to swing district Democrats, who could claim that while they didn’t like everything in the bill, they voted for it because of other parts of the bill. That’s a terrible way of governing, and frankly it would be just as shady if Republicans were doing it in clear violation of what the state constitution says. 

I’m sure the Tim Walz will appeal today’s decision, but this is still a major victory; both for Second Amendment advocates and fans of government accountability, and the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus should be congratulated and commended for their win… and for taking on the fight to begin with.  

Editor’s Note: Groups like the MN Gun Owners Caucus are on the front lines of defending our Second Amendment rights, and Bearing Arms is proud to support them. 

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