Subd. 1a. Felony crimes; silencers prohibited; reckless discharge. (a) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision 1h, whoever does any of the following is guilty of a felony and may be sentenced as provided in paragraph (b):...
(1) sells or has in possession any device designed to silence or muffle the discharge of a firearm;
Subd. 1h. Silencers; authorized for law enforcement and wildlife control purposes. (a)Silencers, suppressors, mufflers or whatever you want to call them are legal to own and operate in 36 of the 50 states with the appropriate tax stamps and forms from the BATFE.
Notwithstanding subdivision 1a, paragraph (a), clause (1), licensed peace officers may use devices designed to silence or muffle the discharge of a firearm for tactical emergency response operations. Tactical emergency response operations include execution of high risk search and arrest warrants, incidents of terrorism, hostage rescue, and any other tactical deployments involving high risk circumstances. The chief law enforcement officer of a law enforcement agency that has the need to
use silencing devices must establish and enforce a written policy governing the use of the devices.
(b) Notwithstanding subdivision 1a, paragraph (a), clause (1), until July 1, 2011, an
enforcement officer, as defined in section 97A.015, subdivision 18, a wildlife area manager, an employee designated under section 84.0835, or a person acting under contract with the commissioner of natural resources, at specific times and locations that are authorized by the commissioner of natural resources may use devices designed to silence or muffle the discharge of a firearm for wildlife control operations that require stealth. If the commissioner determines that the use of silencing devices is necessary under this paragraph, the commissioner must:
(1) establish and enforce a written policy governing the use, possession, and transportation of the devices;
(2) limit the number of the silencing devices maintained by the Department of Natural Resources to no more than ten; and
(3) keep direct custody and control of the devices when the devices are not specifically authorized for use.
Subd. 2. Exceptions. Nothing in this section prohibits the possession of the articles
mentioned by museums or collectors of art or for other lawful purposes of public exhibition.
Keep in mind that Minnesota law allows for the possession of destructive devices (grenades, launchers, AT-4s, etc.), short-barreled shotguns, and short-barreled rifles.Suppressors are the only NFA items that Minnesotans are not allowed to own.
Also keep in mind that there has never in United States history been a prosecuted crime committed with a lawfully-owned suppressor.
Suppressors have many benefits, such as lowering noise pollution from gun ranges, increasing the effectiveness of firearm safety courses by allowing the instructors to communicate with students without yelling to be heard, and allowing night-time varmint hunters to hunt coyotes without waking the neighbors.
Hollywood has done a tremendous job of exaggerating the effectiveness of suppressors. We've all seen the movie where the bad guys are running around with silenced machine guns, shooting at the good guy with every shot whisper-quiet.
The truth is that suppressors are much less effective than movies lead us to believe, bringing a painful report down to a level where enthusiasts can fire without ear protection.
The shooting starts around 2:50.
No, no one absolutely needs a suppressor. But then again, no one needs a Corvette or a pool in their backyard. The ability to possess something should not be dictated by need in a capitalist democracy such as ours.
5 comments:
where do we sign up? I live in WA and my wife wants to move back to MN. I would prefer MN change the law. Are full auto legal? You mentioned that the only NFA not allowed were silencers. But your list did not include Full Auto...
Maybe I'll look around. also other sites just list 34 states. Should be all 57 states if you know who gets elected. ;-)
Most states allow citizens to legally possess full-auto weapons if certain standards are met. The weapon itself needs to have been registered to the ATF's MG registry prior to May 19, 1986 and can run between $15,000-$18,000 for a transferrable M16.
I am in agreement. So...lets get started with changing the laws.
What's the sense in having to buy an overpriced full auto weapon just because it was registered to BATF prior to may 19, 1986? All it does is raise the price of the gun to the law abiding citizen and certainly new auto weapons are no where near that in price(more like 1400.00 for a new hk mp5 and only 3700 for a new FN M249 which is a heck of alot of gun for that kind of money. So again is this just a way of the government making it as difficult as they can for middle class americans to own weapons like these?
Need to start a petition. Have sign sheets at all the ranges you shoot at, pool them together and present them to our elected officials. I'm right there with you! The first thing people think about when they hear the word suppressor, is "assassin". When really it does nothing but protect the shooters hearing and cause less of a disruption to people that may live near ranges!
Post a Comment