Dear Lenny7,

Last night, the Minnesota House had a chance to take a historic vote to close the gun show loophole and require background checks before all gun sales at gun shows. Thanks to your emails, there was lots of buzz about the bill.

Some said we couldn't get this bill to the House floor. Some said we couldn't get our bill approved by a committee either. But we did! These were key steps toward change.

In the end, the House avoided a decision -- voting not to vote -- after a short but spirited debate. Click here to thank the House members who voted for a full debate on the issue.

Click here to respectfully urge those who didn't step up to do so, and to urge U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar to co-sponsor the Federal bill to close the gun show loophole.

Both Federal and state officials need to act! Eighty-two percent of Minnesotans, and the Minnesota Chiefs of Police Association, support background checks before gun purchases.

Also last night, the House approved a much-altered version of the uncased-guns bill. Instead of allowing uncased, loaded guns in cars anywhere, anytime, as originally proposed, the provision allows uncased, unloaded guns in cars only during hunting season, in towns of fewer than 2,500, and several counties, where there is no ordinance prohibiting the discharge of firearms. This differential treatment of guns in cities and rural areas infuriated some in the gun-rights-without-responsibilities crowd. The measure is not moving in the Senate.

Scroll down for more on last night's debate on the gun show loophole -- the first on the topic in many years.

Thank you for all you do,


Heather Martens
Executive Director
Citizens for a Safer Minnesota

www.endgunviolence.com

More on the debate:
On May 13, Rep. Michael Paymar introduced the provision to close the gun show loophole as an amendment to the Game and Fish bill, which contains a gun provision. He said 1.6 million gun sales have been stopped by background checks, gun shows are a major gun trafficking channel according to the ATF, and there is no reason to let some buyers at gun shows escape the background check requirement.

The main counter-arguments were 1) That the source of crime guns does not matter: Rep. Cornish said, "I don't give a rat's whatever where (a criminal) got the gun."
2) That chainsaws, knives and anvils are somehow as lethal as the semiautomatic pistols and AK-47s that can be bought at gun shows without a background check. Rep. David Dill introduced a joke amendment to require background checks for these non-firearm items.

Rep. Paymar responded, "You can belittle (this amendment) all you want," but he pointed out that gun access greatly increases the risk to the life of a domestic violence victim, and blocking domestic abusers from getting guns saves lives.

In the end, the House voted that the amendment was not germane, and therefore could not be debated. This was a decision to avoid a decision (91-41).

But thanks to you, the House had to confront this issue, exposing the weaknesses of the arguments for inaction. This is how change must begin -- controversial bills are rarely passed the first time they come to the floor. Please click here to thank the House members who voted for a full debate! Click here to urge the others, and U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, to step up for the 82 percent of Minnesota that supports background checks before gun purchases.

Rep. Paymar advocated eloquently for the bill, as did Reps. Champion and Hayden. The others voting for a full debate were Reps. Benson, Bly, Carlson, Clark, Davnie, Fritz, Gardner, Greiling, Hausman, Hornstein, Hortman, Huntley, Johnson, Kahn, Knuth, Lenczewski, Lesch, Liebling, Lillie, Loeffler, Mariani, Mullery, Murphy (Erin), Norton, Obermueller, Reinert, Rosenthal, Ruud, Scalze, Simon, Slawik, Slocum, Sterner, Thao, Thissen, Wagenius, Winkler, and Kelliher. They deserve thanks for their leadership.

Thank you for doing your part!

Rep. Paymar responded, "You can belittle (this amendment) all you want," but he pointed out that gun access greatly increases the risk to the life of a domestic violence victim, and blocking domestic abusers from getting guns saves lives.