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Minnesota House of Representatives

State Representative Sheldon Johnson

549 State Office BuildingState Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
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Posted: 2011-01-26 00:00:00
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CHANGE IN GUN LAWS COULD PUT FIREARMS IN HANDS OF CRIMINALS

ST. PAUL, MN – Against the strong opposition of law enforcement, Republicans rammed through legislation today that could put firearms in the hands of criminals, endangering the lives of citizens and police officers. A bill authored by state Rep. Steve Drazkowski (R – Mazeppa) swept through the House Public Safety Committee this afternoon with limited testimony. If the bill becomes law, it would be the single largest repeal of gun safety law in decades.

State Rep. Sheldon Johnson (DFL – St. Paul) voted against the measure in committee today. Johnson is a retired Ramsey County Corrections officer with more than thirty years working in the state’s corrections system. Johnson says Drazkowski’s bill would dramatically reduce safeguards that prevent unstable individuals and people with criminal backgrounds from obtaining guns.

“You know this is a very bad idea when the police officers who put their lives on the line every day to keep us safe so vehemently oppose this bill," said Rep. Johnson. “If it were to become law, this legislation would create a new and ominous threat to public safety in Minnesota.”

Proponents of the bill argue that state gun laws preventing people with a history of violence or mental illness from obtaining firearms are duplicative of existing federal laws. But according to the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association (MPPOA), relying solely on the federal background database (NCIS) would allow many people to fall through the cracks. The NCIS database does not contain complete records of mental health or criminal violence. Certain crimes of violence that would prevent a person from owning a gun in Minnesota may not be detected in the federal database.

“Passing this bill is like putting a loaded gun on the sidewalk and hoping a criminal doesn’t walk by and pick it up,” Johnson said. “Considering what happened in Tucson this month, it is unconscionable to think that gun laws designed to keep firearms out of the hands of dangerous individuals would actually be repealed.”

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