Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Rep. Jeremy Munson, R-Lake Crystal, has introduced a piece of legislation that would allow victims of shootings within gun-free zones to sue the owner of the property they were shot on.
Since the DFL regained the House Majority in 2018, it has focused attention on tightening gun laws. In 2019, the House advanced bills dealing universal background checks and red flag laws, with a focus on keeping guns out of the hands of those who may pose a danger to themselves or those around them. Neither were acted on by the Senate.
Suffice it to say, Munson’s bill would take a radically different approach than those bills. While some pro-gun politicians, including President Donald Trump, have been harshly critical of gun-free zones, Munson’s bill would act to disincentivize them.
“Gun-free zones create soft targets,” Munson said. “I want to respect private property rights, and the respect of private property owners, but I also want to ensure that lawful gun owners are not giving up their right to self-defense.”
According to Munson, who represents Waterville and Elysian, and much of Waseca and Blue Earth counties and a segment of Watonwan, no similar law currently exists on the books in any state. At the federal level, some lawmakers have called for measures to restrict or abolish gun-free zones, arguing that it could reduce gun deaths.
Munson said that public schools would be exempt, as mandated under federal law. However, nearly all other public and private properties would be covered under the proposed law.
Munson pointed to studies suggesting that most mass shootings take place in gun-free zones. He added that by inhibiting an individual’s right to self-defense, gun free zones could pose a particular danger to victims of stalkers and domestic abusers.
“If you have a stalker they’re going to wait to attack you until you are defenseless,” he said. “That’s what the gun-free zones do.”
President Trump has also asserted that most mass shootings take place in gun-free zones, citing statistics from the right-leaning Crime Prevention Research Center. The CPRC’s numbers show that 98.4% of mass shootings from 1950 to 2016 took place in gun-free zones.
Other analyses have shown vastly different results. For example, statistics from the nonprofit organization Everytown for Gun Safety, founded by Democratic Presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg, show that just 10% of gun deaths from 2009 to 2016 took place in gun-free zones.
That’s because of a difference in terms of how mass shootings and gun-free zones are defined. For example, Everytown’s statistics count shootings at homes as mass shootings, while the CPRC’s do not.
Unsurprisingly, Minnesota gun-control advocates aren’t enthusiastic about the Munson bill. Kate Havelin, chair of the Protect Minnesota’s Board of Directors, said that her organization believes it would put Minnesota down the wrong path.
“(Protect MN is) opposed to legislation that seeks to expand the number of guns in schools and churches and other places where members of the public often go,” she said.
The staunchly conservative Munson, who’s serving his first full term at the capitol, belongs to the four-member “New House Republican Caucus,” along with Rep. Cal Bahr of East Bethel, Rep. Tim Miller of Prinsburg and Rep. Steve Drazkowski of Mazeppa.
The New Republicans broke away from the main House Republican Caucus last year, regarding it as too moderate. A key issue for the “New Republican” legislators is gun rights, and all four have co-sponsored the bill. In the Senate, a companion measure has been introduced by Park Rapids Republican Paul Utke.
Munson’s new bill doesn’t have a DFL co-sponsor in either branch of the legislature, so it isn’t likely to go anywhere in the DFL-controlled House or become law. However, it could advance or at least receive a hearing in the Republican-controlled Senate.
Reach Reporter Andrew Deziel at 507-333-3129 or follow him on Twitter @FDNandrew. © Copyright 2020 APG Media of Southern Minnesota. All rights reserved.