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The trusted voice of Minnesota's Gun Owners to Defend and Restore the Right to Keep and Bear Arms

Looking back at the past few years, here’s just a few of the things that the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus & PAC did for Minnesota’s 2.5 million law-abiding gun owners.

If you support us as a member, by attending our events, or through donations or volunteering, thank you. We will strive to continue to be worthy of your support in 2024 and beyond.

LEGISLATIVE

  • Stopped the strongest, biggest, most well-funded push for gun control ever by stopping all anti-gun DFL gun control efforts in Minnesota, without a single GOP defection when bills and amendments came up for a vote from 2013 – 2022.
  • In 2023, we stopped every single gun control bill except for two watered-down red flag and universal background check bills.  Bills we stopped included bans on commonly owned firearms, bans on magazines, required physical & mental testing to own a firearm, bans on carrying firearms, and more.
  • For the fourth year in a row, we maintained a full-time lobbyist / political director presence at the Minnesota State Capitol as our on-the-ground resource for monitoring pro-gun and anti-gun legislation, directly influencing legislators, and providing updates back to our members and supporters through e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
  • Tracked dozens of bills through our Bill Tracker, making state legislators aware of our position on each bill, and ensuring that the views of gun owners were represented prior to committee hearings and floor actions.
  • Caucus Leaders testified in multiple hearings in the Minnesota House and Senate in opposition to Universal Gun Registration and Red Flag Gun Confiscation Orders – and in support of Stand your Ground and Constitutional Carry legislation. We organized all testimony, selected and prepped testifiers, and ensured that messages and evidence from gun owners in Minnesota were heard loud and clear by the committees. In advance of committee hearings, we worked with allies on the committees to develop questions, discussion points, and amendments in opposition to the gun control bills and in support of pro-gun rights legislation.
  • Prior to floor action on the Public Safety Omnibus Bill late in the legislative session, worked with our allies to prepare talking points, questions for other members, and amendments in order to obtain roll call votes on key anti-gun and pro-gun elements of the bills.
  • Working with our allies, obtained roll-call votes in the Minnesota House for Stand your Ground and Constitutional Carry. See our Legislative Scorecard for vote results and how legislators voted.
  • Published and maintained a live Legislative Scorecard showing all graded votes by members of the legislature in committees, conference committees, and floor actions on pro-gun and anti-gun legislation, including amendments and graded procedural motions.

Bill Tracker Legislative Scorecard Action Center

GRASSROOTS ACTION

  • Tens of thousands of emails and phone calls were made by members and supporters of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus through our Action Center to support pro-gun legislation and oppose anti-gun legislation.
  • Held our largest ever lobby day at the Minnesota State Capitol in 2023 with more than 500 attendees coming to lobby their State Representative and State Legislature.
  • Held our largest ever rally at our annual Defend the Second Amendment Rally in the State Capitol Rotunda with more than 2,500 attendees present to tell the Governor and State Legislature “NO TO GUN CONTROL”
  • Collected over 51,000 in-person petition signatures in opposition to the DFL’s gun control agenda

Visit the Action Center

LEGAL ACTION

  • We threatened legal action against Anoka Technical College because of a ban on the carry of firearms on campus that exceeded the institution’s authorities under Minnesota State Law. After a brief dialogue, the college withdrew from an existing Memorandum of Understanding with the local K-12 school district and revoked their ban on firearms – replacing it with guidelines that were compliant with their authorities under Minnesota State Law.
  • Along with our partners, the Second Amendment Foundation and the Firearms Policy Coalition, we sued the State of Minnesota over their unconstitutional prohibition on 18-20 year olds obtaining a permit to carry.  We won at district court and are now pending an appeal at the Eight Circuit Court of Appeals.
  • Along with two individual plaintiffs, we sued the Minnesota State Agricultural Society over their unlawful and unconstitutional prohibition on lawful carry by Minnesota Permit to Carry holders at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.
  • Along with 11 other state gun rights groups and the Second Amendment Foundation, we filed an amicus brief before the United States Supreme Court in the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Kevin P. Bruen case.
  • We’ve made hundreds of requests to government agencies under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, reading tens of thousands of pages of internal emails and documents to ensure the 2nd Amendment rights of Minnesotans are respected.

Learn more about our Legal Actions

ELECTIONS

  • Credited with being major factor in flipping Senate District 11 from anti-gun DFL control to A-rated GOP Senator Jason Rarick in the 2019 special election.
  • Graded all candidates in the 2022 Minnesota House & Senate races and endorsed several “A-rated” candidates for office.
  • Credited with playing a major role in flipping House District 5A from anti-gun F-rated John Persell to pro-gun A-rated Matt Bliss – defeating Persell while flipping several other seats from anti-gun to pro-gun Representatives.
  • Defended pro-gun rights candidates to the Minnesota House & Senate with an 80%+ success rate for endorsed candidates winning their elections.
  • Graded and endorsed more than 1,000 candidates since our founding.

Learn more about our Elections program

ENGAGEMENT & OUTREACH

  • Hosted 23 Second Saturday Get-Togethers (12 in Rochester, 11 in the Twin Cities Metro Area)
  • Hosted 7 Second Amendment Tuesday Range Nights in the Twin Cities Metro Area
  • Attended 21 different gun shows (7 in Twin Cities Metro Area, 14 in Greater Minnesota)
  • Hosted 4 other meetings & get-togethers in  Shoreview, Roseville, Prior Lake, and Saint Paul
  • Held our fourth annual banquet for the Minnesota Gun Owners Support Fund in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, raising more than $51,000
  • Recruited nearly 400 new volunteers to the organization
  • Presented at dozens of local meetings all across the state on the fight for the Second Amendment, including local gun clubs, BPOU meetings, “concerned citizen” groups, and local political organizations.
  • Sent bi-weekly newsletters to keep members informed of local gun shows, business alliance offers, and Caucus events.

LOCAL ACTIVISM

  • Monitored ordinances in nearly twenty cities and townships across the state, including multiple attempts to zone out gun shops and/or close shooting ranges – some of which had been operating for decades.
  • Launched a Second Amendment Sanctuary program at the county level across Minnesota, providing resources and advice to local grassroots efforts resulting in several counties passing strong 2A sanctuary resolutions.

COMMUNICATIONS & MEDIA

  • Did 142 Facebook Live videos, mostly from the State Capitol during the legislative session, providing detailed updates on what was happening to our members & supporters.
  • Sent hundreds of action alerts to our members & supporters, primarily aimed at action to be taken through our Action Center to stop gun control efforts at the State Legislature.

SHOOTING SPORTS

  • Through donations to several local trap teams throughout the state, we supported the continued growth and success of Minnesota’s fastest-growing high school sport.
  • Provided thousands of dollars in scholarships to graduating trap team high school seniors in Minnesota in 2021.

SELECTED MEDIA APPEARANCES

The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus maintained a robust presence in the media discussing issues, pushing back on gun control efforts, and educating the public throughout the state.