Minnesota's 5-Year Gun Grab: No Trial, No Pay, No Mercy

They rammed the original red flag law through in 2023. Now they want to supercharge it.

Bills advancing through both chambers of the Minnesota Legislature would extend Extreme Risk Protection Orders from one year to **five years**, authorize judges to issue emergency confiscation orders after hours and on weekends, and—this is the part that should make your blood run cold—**eliminate any requirement that police reimburse gun owners fair market value** for firearms taken under the orders.

Read that again. The government seizes your property. And under this proposal, they never have to give you a dime back.

**No charge. No arrest. No trial. No compensation. Just gone.**

The bill goes further. Right now, senior law enforcement officials initiate these petitions. The new language would let **any rank-and-file patrol officer** file one on the spot. Supporters dress this up as "expediting the process." What it actually does is lower the bar for stripping a constitutional right to whoever happens to be working the overnight shift.

Here's how those petitions are going: police filed the vast majority of the 314 ERPO petitions submitted in 2025—more than double the 138 filed in the law's first year. Judges approved them **96% of the time**.

That is not a safety net. That is a rubber stamp with a badge on it.

Richfield Police Chief Jay Henthorne went on CBS Minnesota to celebrate the petition spike as proof the law is "successful." His definition of success: more Minnesotans disarmed without a criminal conviction, without a trial, and—under the bill he's cheering—without compensation.

The NRA fired off a letter to a Senate committee last week renewing its "strong opposition" and correctly labeling the legislation a **gun confiscation scheme** that bypasses due process. Republicans hammered the original 2023 law on exactly those grounds.

So why did the bill clear committee in the tied House anyway?

Because at least some Republicans crossed the aisle and handed Democrats a win on confiscation expansion. **Minnesota gun owners need to find out exactly who those members are.**

The DFL-controlled Senate has already advanced its version through committee. A floor vote in both chambers is coming—and it's coming fast.

**What you do right now:** Call and email your Minnesota state representative and senator. Demand a hard NO on any ERPO expansion. Find your lawmakers at leg.mn.gov. If your rep voted to move this out of committee, every gun owner in that district needs to be in their inbox and voicemail before the floor vote drops.

This isn't the end of Minnesota's push—it's the blueprint. If a 5-year, no-compensation, any-cop-can-file red flag law survives here, other blue-state legislatures are already watching and taking notes.