Churches Again Challenge MN Concealed-Carry Law

Two churches have again filed suit challenging Minnesota's new law permitting the carrying of concealed weapons, according to a story in today's Twin Cities Pioneer Press. The law prevents churches from banning firearms in their parking lots and allows them to ban firearms inside the church only if they post detailed signs or verbally tell each person of the ban at the door. The churches contend that "religious institutions should have the right to control their own property and to be able to worship without firearms." This is the second round of litigation. An earlier 2003 statute was successfully challenged by churches on the ground that the Minnesota Constitution requires laws only deal with a single subject and the concealed carry law was part of a law that also dealt with ice-fishing houses. (See earlier posting.) In 2005, the legislature re-enacted the concealed carry permit law alone, with minor changes in the kind of notification that was required to prohibit guns inside (see Duluth News Tribune story.)