By KSTPPublished: November 12, 2025 - 8:13 PMSt. Paul became the first city in Minnesota to pass an assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines ban, with gun rights groups filing a lawsuit in response.“Saint Paul stands ready to act on day one when the state lifts preemption,” said Mayor Melvin Carter. “This ordinance represents a collective effort by local leaders taking a long-overdue step to protect our children, families, and neighbors. Too many have suffered the unimaginable ...
By KSTP
Published: November 12, 2025 - 8:13 PM
St. Paul became the first city in Minnesota to pass an assault-style weapons and high-capacity magazines ban, with gun rights groups filing a lawsuit in response.
“Saint Paul stands ready to act on day one when the state lifts preemption,” said Mayor Melvin Carter. “This ordinance represents a collective effort by local leaders taking a long-overdue step to protect our children, families, and neighbors. Too many have suffered the unimaginable while others debated. It’s time for state leaders to meet us in this moment of urgency and safeguard the future our children deserve.”
The ordinance can’t take effect until state preemption laws are lifted; however, the city highlights five provisions:
The ordinance would exempt active-duty law enforcement and military personnel, licensed federal firearms curators and transporting firearms through the city, as long as the guns are unloaded, locked and safely stored.
St. Paul becomes the first city as part of a coalition of elected officials across the state to formally enact legislation on the issue.
Just hours after St. Paul passed the ordinance, two gun rights groups filed a lawsuit.
The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus and the Minnesota Gun Owners Law Center say the ordinance is illegal under state law, which bars cities from creating their own firearm restrictions.
They argue the measure creates confusion and threatens the rights of gun owners, and are asking a judge to block the city from enforcing it.
“Our members are harmed because the city is doing something that they don’t have the authority to do,” said Rob Doar, president of the Gun Owners Law Center and general counsel for the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus. “Local units of government only have the legislative authority that the state constitution and state statutes give them.”
“We said from the beginning that state law bars us from enforcing basic provisions like requiring every gun to have a serial number,” Carter added. “The only thing more absurd is the MN Gun Owners Caucus suing to prove us right.”
City Attorney Lyndsey Olson provided the following:
“The City is ready to defend our authority to prepare for swift public-safety action—while respecting the rights of responsible gun owners—if state preemption is ever lifted.“Contingent ordinances are a common legal tool used in many areas of law, and despite the MN Gun Caucus’s strong rhetoric, they have not been found to violate state firearm preemption law.”