MN:Are All States' Gun Permits now Valid in Minnesota?

In May of 2015, Minnesota enacted an omnibus firearm reform law.  The law went into effect yesterday, 1 August, 2015.

One of the reforms was a change in the wording for Minnesota to recognize permits from other states.  The previous wording required that the other State's law be "substantially similar" to Minnesota's permit law.  The Commissioner of the Department of Public Safety is required to publish a list, and if the State that a person has a permit for is not on the list, then the permit is considered valid.  Here is the old law, that ceased effect on 31 July:

Subd. 16.Recognition of permits from other states.

(a) The commissioner must annually establish and publish a list of other states that have laws governing the issuance of permits to carry weapons that are not substantially similar to this section. The list must be available on the Internet. A person holding a carry permit from a state not on the list may use the license or permit in this state subject to the rights, privileges, and requirements of this section.

 The new law has a new criteria:

Subd. 16.
Recognition of permits from other states.

(a) The commissioner must annually establish and publish a list of other states that have laws governing the issuance of permits to carry weapons that are not substantially similar to this section. The list must be available on the Internet. A person holding a carry permit from a state not on the list may use the license or permit in this state subject to the rights, privileges, and requirements of this section.

No new list had been posted by late Sunday evening, 2 August.  A contributor at opencarry.org suggests that the new Minnesota list will recognize an additional eight states, and remove recognition from two, Texas and  Utah.  That is mere rumor at present.

I do not wish to be a test case, but it appears that at least for this weekend, all states' permits were valid in Minnesota.    DPS has had ample time to create a new list.   The Minnesota DPS has not issued a list under the new law.

The new law is clear.   If a state is not on the list, its permit is valid in Minnesota. I think the Minnesota authorities would have a tough time prosecuting someone from say, North Dakota who had a permit from North Dakota and was carrying in Minnesota before the Minnesota DPS publishes a new list. Clearly, the old list is no longer valid.



Maybe a new list will be posted on Monday.


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