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Minnesota House of Representatives

State Representative Michael Paymar

563 State Office BuildingState Office Building
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-4199

For more information contact: Tim O'Brien 651-296-8877

Posted: 2012-06-06 00:00:00
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2011-2012 Session Issues - Public Safety and Guns

As the former chair of the Public Safety Finance Committee, I remained concerned that we are not adequately funding the judiciary, corrections, victim services, and public safety. While I no longer serve on the committee, public safety has been a passion of mine because of my work in the domestic violence prevention field. If elected I would like to continue my work in this area.

I was disappointed that my bill to plug the gun show loophole didn't move forward.. The bill would have simply required that anyone purchasing a firearm at a gun show obtain a background check, just like if you were buying a weapon at a sporting goods store. A background check disqualifies felons, domestic abusers, and people with serious mental health problems from purchasing firearms.

I was pleased, that with my advocacy, we were able to stop the dangerous "Stand Your Ground Bill" that would have recklessly expanded the "Castle Doctrine" which would radically change the standard for self-defense. Minnesotans are currently allowed to shoot someone in self-defense who illegally enters your home - you don’t have to retreat. This bill would have expanded this use of deadly force to yards, fences, cars, etc. which would have meant that road rage incidents and neighborhood disputes could wind up with people using firearms even though they weren’t at risk of great bodily harm. It would have also allowed any concealed carry permit holder from other states to carry, even though the law where they got their permit was weaker than Minnesota’ law.

On the House floor I gave a speech about the cases in other states where innocent people died and why we should stand with law enforcement in opposition to this bill. While the bill passed the House, Governor Dayton vetoed it. Subsequent to this vote, we witnessed the shooting of a young African American male in Florida during a supposed altercation. The shooter is using the "Stand Your Ground" bill in Florida as his defense--the same bill the Minnesota legislature approved.

I was given the Courage Award by Protect Minnesota an organization that seeks reasonable gun laws for the work that I’ve done to end gun violence in Minnesota.

I was also the chief author of a bill to reform the way law enforcement confronts gang activity in our communities. My reform bill was the result of the Metro Gang Strike Force scandal. I worked closely with law enforcement, the County Attorney's Association, NAACP, League of Minnesota Cities and the Department of Public Safety (DPS) to craft a bill that will ensure that the twenty-three gang strike forces in Minnesota have the tools to be effective, but also accountable. Future strike forces will now be certified by the DPS, must abide by guidelines on forfeiture of evidence, include an oversight role for prosecutors, increase audits, develop narrowly objective criteria for determining gang affiliation to reduce racial profiling, allow the Commissioner of DPS to decertify strike forces that aren't complying with state guidelines and eliminates the Metro-Gang Strike Force Advisory Board. The bill also creates a working group to examine data bases used by law enforcement.

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