St. Paul approves ordinance requiring gun owners to safely secure firearms
ST. PAUL, Minn. – The St. Paul City Council says gun owners must now be responsible for safely securing their firearms
In a unanimous vote Wednesday, the council approved the ordinance in hopes of keeping stolen guns off the streets.
Councilmembers tell WCCO News they have been working on this idea for nearly two years now. If Mayor Melvin Carter signs this, it would penalize people who leave their guns unsecured.
"Guns are the leading cause of death for children under 18 right now. It used to be cars and now it's guns, and a lot of those tragedies are completely avoidable," said Ward 2 Councilmember Noecker.
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She says those stats from the CDC are what led her to start working on amending the city's code. If enacted, the ordinance would make it a misdemeanor to negligently leave a loaded or unloaded firearm in a place where someone without access could take it.
"Knowing how many people die of suicide, when if there had just been that extra second longer that the gun had been inaccessible, those deaths could be prevented," Noecker said. "Knowing how many guns are stolen out of cars and then used for murders, shots fired, all kinds of crimes in our city, those were all things that I wanted to do something about."
Since 2020, stats from the city show more than 900 guns have been recovered by police. Of those guns, 150 were stolen – 97 from vehicles – and there have been 13 gun incidents at schools.
Supporters of the ordinance celebrated its passage.
"I think the laws that have been passed at the legislature are going to be very helpful, and today is another step forward," said Gretchen Damon of Moms Demand Action - St. Paul.
But in a statement, the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus called the ordinance illegal, saying: "In the unlikely event the city tries to enforce the unconstitutional provisions of this ordinance, we will be prepared to take swift legal action."
Mayor Carter has said he supports this ordinance and plans to sign it. If he does, it would go into effect 30 days later, unless there is legal action to stop it.
But the city council says they worded the bill intentionally in a way that they think will pass any legal challenges.
