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Legal Information: Minnesota

State Gun Laws

Updated: 
December 18, 2023

If the abuser has been convicted of a crime, can s/he keep or buy a gun?

Minnesota state law says that a person cannot have or buy a gun if s/he:

  1. was convicted of a “crime of violence” as defined in MN Statutes § 624.712(5), either as an adult or as a juvenile, either in Minnesota or similar crimes in another state;
  2. was convicted of a crime in another state similar to Minnesota’s crime of domestic assault (subdivision 3) or Minnesota’s assault in the 5th degree (subdivision 3) or was convicted in Minnesota of assault against a family or household member or domestic assault (subdivision 8);
  3. was convicted of a felony;
  4. was convicted of a drug-related misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor; however, if more than three years have passed since the conviction and s/he has no subsequent similar convictions, s/he may be able to possess a gun at that time; or was convicted in any state of any of the following gross misdemeanors: gang violence, bias assault, false imprisonment, neglect or endangerment of a child, burglary, stalking, setting a spring gun, and riot.1

Note: If more than three years have passed without further convictions then a person who falls into categories 2 or 4 may be able to possess a gun at that time.

1 MN Statutes § 624.713(1)