Minnesota Eyes 5-Year Gun Confiscation Without Conviction

Proposals advancing in both chambers of the Minnesota Legislature would expand Extreme Risk Protection Orders — ERPOs — to last up to five years instead of the current one-year maximum. The bills would also let any patrol officer, not just police chiefs or sheriffs, file a petition to strip a citizen of their firearms on the spot.

Let that sink in. Any cop, at any hour, on any weekend, could initiate a process that separates you from your Second Amendment rights — before anyone charges you with a single crime.

The law, rammed through in 2023 when Democrats held total control of the Capitol, already operates with a staggering rubber-stamp rate. Judges granted ERPO petitions in 96% of cases during the law's first full year. That's not due process — that's a formality.

The NRA called it exactly what it is in a letter to the Senate committee last week: a gun confiscation scheme. The organization renewed fierce opposition, echoing concerns Republicans raised when Democrats first forced this through — that it strips citizens of constitutional rights without a criminal conviction, without an adequate hearing, and without meaningful recourse.

Now DFL lawmakers want to remove the requirement that police reimburse gun owners the fair market value of surrendered firearms. They already take your guns. Now they want to take them for free.

Rep. Cedrick Frazier, DFL-New Hope, called the expansion "legislation that has saved many lives." What Frazier won't tell you is how many innocent Minnesotans had their rights violated based on nothing more than an accusation — or how many of those 96% of granted petitions involved any actual criminal violence.

The bill cleared the tied Minnesota House committee — meaning at least some Republicans crossed the aisle and handed Democrats a win on gun confiscation. Those Republicans need to hear from their constituents immediately.

Minnesota gun owners: contact your state representative and senator today. Tell them a five-year firearms ban without a conviction is unconstitutional, un-American, and unacceptable. Find your legislators at leg.mn.gov.