Imagine this: you are walking through downtown…er, Brainerd. It’s dark out, with a tinge of fog in the air. A car full of rural youth with mischief on their minds rolls up and jumps out. One has a gun, another a baseball bat. They are making loud, rural-youth-y noises. In a split second, you discern:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a split second, you decide that your concealed handgun is the best way to resolve the situation – whether you shoot or not. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And after the episode, you call the police, lawyer up, and get ready for the process of proving to the court that your decision was correct…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
…during which time a county attorney, sitting in a warm, safe office with a Keurig and stacks of law books and protected by metal detectors and deputies, will pick over the life-or-death decision you were forced, against your will, to make on a cold, dark, foggy night in Brainerd, with a grisly death potentially seconds away, to see if your attempt to flee was satisfactory enough <\/em>under not only statue, but according to at least a dozen items of Minnesota case law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Seem reasonable?<\/p>\n\n\n\n If so – in what world? Seriously?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Turnabout<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n After a couple of sessions of playing on the defensive on gun rights, the good guys are going over to the attack. <\/p>\n\n\n\n A Self Defense Reform bill has been introduced at the MIinnesota State Legislature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n ACTION ALERT – STAND YOUR GROUND This bill, known as Self-Defense Law Reform, or “Stand your Ground”, legislation simplifies Minnesota’s self-defense law by codifying the 10-12 court cases that interpret our existing statutory law while removing the ridiculous “duty to retreat” concept that requires Minnesotans to retreat from an attacker before defending themselves with force.<\/p> This is our Stand your Ground legislation with bill content honed by use of force and legal experts and backed by our years of advocacy experience.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Why propose the change to law? See the example above. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But why try to pass the bills now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Future Math<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n You may ask yourself “Why? What’s the point? There’s a DFL governor, and the House is controlled by Melissa Hortman and Uncle Ryan Winkler?”<\/p>\n\n\n\n Think about it for a moment: the DFL lead in the House is pretty thin, and several of those DFLers are in distant suburbs that went for Trump, or are net-Red districts in normal times. And there’s history – in 2002, the gun rights movement pretty much extincted all the anti-gun DFLers, leading in short order to passage of Carry Permit reform in 2003. And that was at a time when the state wasn’t nearly <\/em>as polarized on gun issues as it is today. And if Hortman causes the bills to be tabled in the House while it passes the Senate? That’ll be remembered in 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n And Governor Walz? If he vetoes such a bill, it’s going to be used as an electoral sledgehammer against every DFLer outside 494 and 694. And it’ll draw blood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
BILLS INTRODUCED IN HOUSE & SENATE
Our Stand your Ground bill has been introduced in the Minnesota Senate by Senator Carrie Ruud (R – SD 10) as Senate File 13 (SF13) and in the Minnesota House by Representative Lisa Demuth (R – 13A) and Representative Matt Bliss (R – 5A) as House File 131.<\/p>