Minnesota gun laws changed substantially in 2023 and 2024: private sales of handguns and semiautomatic military-style assault weapons now require a permit check, courts can issue extreme risk protection orders temporarily barring someone from having firearms, and gun owners must report lost or stolen weapons within 48 hours. A ban on binary triggers was enacted but later struck down, and a statewide safe storage mandate passed the House without clear confirmation of final enactment.
Background Checks on Private Sales
If you buy a pistol or a semiautomatic military-style assault weapon from a private seller in Minnesota, you have to show either a valid Minnesota transferee permit or a carry permit, which doubles as a purchase permit. The seller must verify the permit and check your government-issued photo ID against it.
Both parties then record the transaction: firearm type, manufacturer, make, model, and serial number. Buyer and seller each keep a copy of that record for ten years.
There are two legal paths to complete the transfer. You can go through a federally licensed dealer, who runs the buyer through the National Instant Criminal Background Check System for a facilitation fee that varies by shop. Or, if the buyer presents a valid transferee permit, you can skip the dealer, fill out a transfer form designed by the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, and each keep a copy.
Several transfers fall outside the rule. Transfers between immediate family members are exempt, as are temporary transfers. Standard long guns that aren’t semiautomatic military-style assault weapons are not covered by the private-sale background check law at all.
Penalties are serious. Transferring a handgun or semiautomatic assault weapon to someone you know is prohibited from possessing firearms is a gross misdemeanor, punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $3,000 fine. If the buyer uses or possesses the firearm in connection with a violent felony within one year of the transfer, the charge escalates to a felony.
Extreme Risk Protection Orders
Minnesota’s extreme risk protection order law, sometimes called a red flag law, took effect January 1, 2024, and is codified at Minnesota Statutes 624.7171 through 624.7178. A court can temporarily prohibit someone from possessing or buying firearms when evidence shows they pose a danger.
Who Can File
Only certain people may petition: a family or household member, the chief law enforcement officer or their designee, a city or county attorney, or the person’s legal guardian. Mental health professionals cannot petition directly. When a clinician determines a patient poses a serious threat of violence or a suicide risk, they must notify the sheriff of the county where the patient lives and recommend whether the patient should possess firearms.
Emergency Orders and Full Hearings
In urgent situations a court can issue an emergency order without first holding a hearing. If there is probable cause to believe the person has firearms, the court issues a search warrant, and law enforcement must first give the person a chance to surrender firearms voluntarily before executing it.
A full hearing must take place within 14 days of the emergency order. At that hearing the petitioner has to prove by clear and convincing evidence that the person poses a significant danger to others or a serious suicide risk if they have access to firearms. A long-term order can last six months to one year and may be renewed if the circumstances haven’t changed.
Surrender
Someone subject to an order must transfer all firearms to a law enforcement agency or a federally licensed dealer within 24 hours. The transfer can be temporary or permanent. A licensed dealer may charge a reasonable storage fee; law enforcement cannot. A person who doesn’t own any firearms must submit a sworn statement confirming that. Possessing a firearm while knowing an order is in effect brings criminal charges and a five-year prohibition on firearm possession.
Reporting Lost or Stolen Firearms
Anyone who owns or controls a firearm in Minnesota must report its loss or theft to local law enforcement within 48 hours of discovering it missing. The report should include a full description of the weapon, its serial number, and the circumstances of the loss or theft.
Penalties escalate quickly with repeat violations:
- First violation: petty misdemeanor with a maximum fine of $300.
- Second violation: misdemeanor, up to 90 days in jail and a fine up to $1,000.
- Third and later violations: gross misdemeanor, up to 364 days in jail and a fine up to $3,000.
A gun owner who loses track of two firearms over time and fails to report both incidents is already looking at potential jail time on the second offense.
Safe Storage: Passed The House, Status Unclear
HF 4300, authored by Rep. Jamie Becker-Finn, passed the Minnesota House. It would require that a firearm not under the owner’s direct physical control either be stored unloaded with a locking device attached, or placed inside a locked storage unit or gun room. Inside a locked gun room or safe, the firearm may be loaded or unloaded. A locking device includes trigger locks, cable locks, or any mechanism that prevents an unauthorized person from firing the weapon. The requirement would not apply to firearms on your person or within arm’s reach.
Violations could lead to criminal charges if a child or unauthorized person accessed the weapon, with penalties ranging from misdemeanors to gross misdemeanors depending on whether someone was injured. Final enactment of this bill is not confirmed, so check its current status before relying on it.
Binary Triggers Remain Legal
The 2024 omnibus bill expanded Minnesota’s definition of “trigger activator” to cover binary triggers, which fire one shot when the trigger is pulled and a second when it is released. HF 2609 would have made possession or transfer a felony, with an aggravated violation carrying up to five years in prison and a $20,000 fine.
In August 2025, a Ramsey County District Court judge ruled that the ban violated the Minnesota Constitution’s single-subject rule because the legislature had bundled too many unrelated topics into the omnibus bill. The state appealed. In May 2026 the Minnesota Court of Appeals declined to reinstate the ban, finding the provision was “not germane” to the bill’s single subject. A standalone binary trigger ban introduced during the 2026 session also fell short.
As of mid-2026, binary triggers are legal to possess and transfer in Minnesota. Under federal law, the ATF does not classify binary triggers as machine guns under the National Firearms Act because the device still requires a separate trigger action for each shot. Future legislative sessions may revisit the question.
Who Cannot Possess a Firearm
The transfer and background check rules exist to keep firearms away from people who are legally prohibited from having them. Under federal law, you cannot possess a firearm if you have a felony conviction, are under indictment for a felony, have been convicted of a domestic violence misdemeanor, are subject to certain protective orders, have been adjudicated as mentally ill, are an unlawful user of controlled substances, or fall into several other categories. Prior felony convictions account for the vast majority of federal firearms possession charges.
Minnesota adds its own prohibiting factors under Section 624.713, including people convicted of crimes of violence and those who have been committed for treatment of mental illness or chemical dependency. A transferee permit application authorizes the release of commitment records to the reviewing law enforcement agency, so applying while prohibited is itself a fast track to criminal charges.
Crossing State Lines With a Firearm
Federal law, 18 U.S.C. ยง 926A, provides a safe passage protection when you move a firearm through Minnesota or out of state. You qualify if you can legally possess the firearm at both origin and destination, the gun is unloaded during transport, and neither the firearm nor ammunition is readily accessible from the passenger compartment. In a vehicle with a trunk, the trunk satisfies that requirement. In vehicles without a separate trunk, the firearm must be in a locked container, not the glove compartment or center console.
The protection applies only while you are genuinely in transit, and an overnight stop in a state where your firearm would otherwise be illegal can remove it. Safe passage does not authorize carrying for self-defense during the trip. Minnesota’s carry permit is recognized by some but not all neighboring states, so check reciprocity agreements before crossing a state line with a holstered weapon.