Ruling on gun law appealed to Supreme CourtST. PAUL - Attorney General Mike Hatch on Thursday asked the state Supreme Court to review a Court of Appeals ruling that struck down Minnesota's handgun permitting law.
The conceal-carry law, approved by the Legislature in 2003, gave more Minnesotans permission to carry handguns in public. But a series of state courts struck down the law, saying the method used by the Legislature to approve it was improper.
The brief by Hatch's office noted how rare it was for courts to use the single-subject clause of the Constitution to strike down laws passed by the Legislature.
"This is only the sixth time in 148 years that a law has been successfully challenged on single-subject grounds," Hatch's office wrote, making it all the more important, they said, for the high court to weigh in on the matter.
State lawmakers upset over the court rulings have in recent weeks moved to re-pass the law in a way that would avoid the legal hang-ups. A debate and vote by the full Senate was set for Friday.
The bill the Senate will consider makes several minor changes to its 2003 predecessor, including requiring permit-seekers to get fingerprints and to create more zones in the state where guns aren't allowed.
Supporters of the 2003 law have promised an attempt to strike those changes on the Senate floor.
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/state/11631304.htm.
