Minnesota –-(Ammoland.com)- The Stand Your Ground bill will be heard in the Minnesota Senate on Thursday.
This bill is vital for the protection it gives Minnesotans who are forced to defend themselves or their families outside their homes.
Please call and email your senator below and urge them to vote YES on HF1467!*
Here’s some background on the bill:
HF1467/SF1357 Summary
HF1467/SF1357, the Defense of Dwelling and Person Act of 2011, brings “Stand Your Ground” protections to Minnesota, restores the presumption that a person using self defense is innocent until proven guilty, enhances Castle Doctrine, prevents the state from seizing guns during an emergency (remember Hurricane Katrina?), improves carry reciprocity with other states and requires the government to do its job to serve law-abiding citizens.
The full text of the bill can be found here: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bin/bldbill.php?bill=H1467.2.html&session=ls87
Here’s some more detail about the bill:
Adds Stand Your Ground
HF1467 brings “Stand Your Ground” protections to Minnesota, removing the requirement that an intended victim of violent crime must retreat from a place where he has a right to be before using deadly force in self defense.
Enhances Castle Doctrine
The bill also strengthens Minnesota’s “Castle Doctrine,” clarifying when and under what circumstances individuals can legally use deadly force to protect themselves in their homes and vehicles. In addition, it creates a presumption that, when faced with an apparent home invasion, carjacking or kidnapping attempt, a person may use deadly force in self defense.
Adds Universal Carry Permit Acceptance
Of particular interest to carry permit holders, the final article of the bill updates our carry permit reciprocity standards, allowing people holding carry permits from any other state to carry in Minnesota (under Minnesota law, of course). This should result in a large increase in the number of states where Minnesota permit holders can carry, since many states allow other states’ permit holders to carry on a reciprocal basis.
Prevents Gun Seizures During a State of Emergency
Taking a lesson from the problems in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, the bill also bans government agencies from seizing guns or ammo, revoking permits to purchase or carry, closing gun shops, or otherwise suspending our constitutional rights during a civil emergency — or at any other time. It also prohibits law enforcement officers from seizing a person’s gun, unless the person is arrested, or the gun is evidence of a crime.
Enhances Purchase Permit Rights
The bill also borrows a page from the Permit to Carry law, providing a more robust appeal process for denied purchase permits, and requiring that police chiefs and sheriffs whose purchase permit denials are overturned must pay the applicants’ legal costs.
*Yeah, we know, HF1467 is a house bill, but the Senate decided to go with that version as-is.
Please forward this article to gun owners and civil rights supporters, and ask them to sign up at https://www.gocra.org/join.html
About Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance
We are the Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance, the organization behind CCRN (Concealed Carry Reform Now!). We are people from all walks of life who have banded together to preserve and protect all of our civil rights as gun owners. Visit: www.gocra-mn.org
