To the Editor, 

I want to call attention to something that Democrats passed by shoving it into their last-minute megabus bill—a provision that further erodes at Second Amendment Constitutional Rights: making guns with binary triggers illegal to own, and increasing penalties on straw purchasers. Every year, Democrats take another bite at the apple and continue to chip away at rights that are protected by the Constitution. It’s wrong and it needs to stop. 

The first part of the provision makes it illegal to own guns with binary triggers. This is bad policy. We’re not talking about banning a modified trigger. Many manufacturers sell firearms with binary triggers—that is a pretty standard model these days, and it’s legal at the federal level. In fact, a lot of our law enforcement officers use guns with binary triggers. Despite the popularity of these guns, the bill states you need to get rid of any firearms with binary triggers by January 1, 2025. 

To make matters worse, there is no real process for folks to follow. There is nothing in this bill that institutes a buyback program or compensation program for those who are expected to turn over firearms. That’s alarming to folks who have invested in these firearms—they aren’t cheap. It’s just expected that in the next 6 months, law-abiding citizens will find a way to get rid of these expensive guns. This is wrong, and again, completely infringes on Minnesotans’ Second Amendment rights. We all know that criminals do not follow laws, so it stands to reason that criminals will not follow this one either. This bill will only punish law-abiding citizens, while threatening to make them criminals. 

The bill also includes increased penalties on straw purchasers. While I can see what they were attempting to get at, the way this bill approaches the issue makes it unworkable. They are putting the burden on gun sellers to know and anticipate what a purchaser will plan to do with that firearm. Folks have no way of knowing these things, yet they’ll be held accountable if something goes wrong. 

Instead of punishing law-abiding citizens, why can’t we go after criminals and focus on enforcing laws already on the books? We should be upholding current laws and penalizing criminals. Unfortunately, judges and prosecutors fail to put criminals behind bars, and oftentimes fail to adhere to minimum sentencing guidelines. This is an issue of public safety, and we should hold them accountable. Instead, Democrats have taken the route of criminalizing the law-abiding folks. 

This is only one small part of the massive 1400+ page bill that Democrats passed in the final minutes of session. Again, we didn’t even have access to the language when they brought it forward for a vote. It’s not surprising they took the opportunity to hide controversial gun legislation in here. Many Democrat Senators have said they wouldn’t pass gun control bills like this, yet every single one voted it through—likely in the hope that they could justify their vote by parroting off one or two “good” provisions in this bill that made it worth the vote. I implore folks not to be fooled by their games. Every year the Democrats will continue to chip away at the Constitutional Rights of law-abiding citizens, and it has to stop. 

Senator Paul Utke,

Park Rapids, Minn.