The Supreme Court receives doubt about the MN serial number of guns law

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Minnesota created doubts about the feasibility of the old state law, which makes the crime of owning some firearms that lack serial numbers.

In the purity of the lower court ruling, the majority of judges stopped at the highest court in the state to completely nullify the 1994 law for constitutional reasons. But the divided judgment may make it difficult for prosecutors to bring arms charges as they have in hundreds of cases per year.

Wednesday’s decision A man involves, during the 2022 traffic accident in Friedli, the GLOCK 19 millimeters lacked a serial number. Before his case was able to trial, the charges against the man were nullified by the provincial judge, then the Court of Appeal was returned and the Supreme Court in the state is now.

The Supreme Court’s decision concluded that the definition of the law for the serial number is very wide because it depends on a federal law that does not require arms signs. The state law was supposed to help track weapons while circulating.

The majority in the opinion of the assistant judge Paul concluded: “We must exercise caution before criminalizing the behavior of a large group of Minnesotan, who have never understood their behavior as criminals.”

He said this is that the numbers do not mean much without the presence of a paper path that links it to the individual, saying that it makes these weapons still uncomfortable.

It refers to the Ghost Guns – those that were built through groups or spare parts instead of buying fully manufactured firearms – as a source of concern. However, justice indicated that Minnesota does not have a specific law in books to regulate it.

“In the end, the final decision on whether and how Ghost Guns is based on the legislative body.”.

Judges Natalie Hudson and Assistant Judge Carl Broccasini opposed.

“In any procedure, the vast majority of firearms in the country is not registered in any database,” Hudson wrote in an opposition. “But the lack of the record does not mean that the legal imposition of the serial number is a highly feasible endeavor, as the court claims.”

The Supreme Court’s decision comes just two days after the Appeal Court in Minnesota A similar challenge fell It involves charges of using the law.

Hundreds of criminal cases have been submitted in recent years under the Serial Numbers Law, According to state court data.