Free Republic

Minnesota's largest police group and police union are suing the NFL and the Vikings, claiming the league's new ban on off-duty cops carrying their guns to games is illegal. The Minnesota law that allows businesses to bar weapons specifically exempts "active licensed" peace officers, and state law trumps NFL rules, the lawsuit says. But the National Football League disagrees, saying the law doesn't apply to it. Although an NFL spokesman declined to comment on the suit, when police officials complained about the policy last fall, the league's security chief said a ticket to a game is a license that teams...

Here’s an overview: Adds Stand Your Ground Enhances Castle Doctrine Prevents Gun Seizures During a State of Emergency Extends Purchase Permits to Five Years The bill also borrows a page from the Permit to Carry law, providing a more robust appeal process for denied purchase permits, and requiring that police chiefs and sheriffs whose purchase permit denials are overturned must pay the applicants’ legal costs. Adds Universal Carry Permit Reciprocity

There was one factual error in my column last week about Matthew Dirks, the Iraq veteran who was denied a concealed carry permit. He needs a state armed guard license, which has requirements above and beyond the simple carry permit. In my defense, everyone I spoke to confirmed that Dirks needed a "carry permit." I apologize for the error, but it in no way diminishes my point, which was: If an Army combat veteran, trained to use a variety of weapons, can't have a carry permit, who can? St. Paul Police spokesman Paul Schnell called to answer that question. He...

If the Minnesota Court of Appeals is having trouble deciding the fate of the Minnesota Personal Protection Act, they should consider the story of Matthew Dirks. The 23-year-old East Side native served 15 months with the Army in Iraq at Baghdad International Airport and Camp Dogwood. Last week, St. Paul Police Chief John Harrington denied him a carry permit. Dirks' primary job in Iraq was repairing the weapons systems on Bradley Fighting Vehicles. He also stood guard with the M249 light machine gun and .50-caliber heavy machine gun. He has fired the TOW anti-tank missile, the 25 mm cannon on...

Lawmakers didn't dupe the voters when they passed the state's controversial conceal-and-carry gun law as part of a natural resources bill, Attorney General Mike Hatch told the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Thursday. The gun bill generated more media attention and debate than any other measure during the 2003 legislative session, and lawmakers correctly tied the conceal-and-carry bill to rules on snowmobiles, fish houses and parks fees because they were all government regulation of potentially hazardous devices, Hatch explained. For those reasons, Hatch argued, the three-judge panel should resurrect the weapons law thrown out six months ago by a Ramsey...

Minnesota's embattled conceal-and-carry handgun law is back in the legal crosshairs. Lawyers today likely won't be debating the merits of the law; the argument will center on how it came to pass in the Legislature. In the meantime, law enforcement is left to figure out what to do with Minnesotans seeking a permit to carry a concealed gun. The state Court of Appeals will hear arguments today on the controversial "Personal Protection Act" six months after a Ramsey County District Court judge shot down the 2003 gun law. Lawmakers violated the state Constitution by attaching it to an unrelated natural...

THIEF RIVER FALLS, MINN. -- Betty Olson came to Tuesday night's community meeting about a Level 3 sex offender moving to this northern Minnesota town for one reason. "It's simple. Fear," said Olson, 43, holding her toddler foster daughter. "I'm afraid for myself and my children. We have a safe community and we want to keep it that way."

Live streaming video. http://www.senate.leg.state.mn.us/media/ click on 'View' button.