Please read this entire document.

Our courses require that you demonstrate competence with a firearm.

If you apply for a carry permit, the certificate informs the Sheriff that you handled a firearm. If you are ineligible, your application will be denied and you could be subject to arrest.

If you have any questions, you are invited to call us confidentially. We are not attorneys, but we will attempt to respond with our best understanding of the law.

You are also invited to contact a competent attorney. We recommend Brian Toder with Chestnut & Cambronne, P.A. at 612-339-7300. Mr. Toder will review your situation and make recommendations. He can assist in obtaining expungments (sealing conviction record) as well as appealing denied permit applications.

Persons Ineligible for Permits to Carry Pistols

The people listed below are prohibited from possessing a pistol or firearm under Minnesota state law as amended by this legislation (some exceptions may apply by statute and case law must be consulted to determine eligibility in any specific case). Under the policies outlined in Articles II and Ill (of the law), the people listed below are not eligible for a permit to carry a pistol in public.

General/Civil Status:

  • Committed as mentally ill, mentally retarded, or mentally ill and dangerous
  • Found incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of mental illness
  • Currently committed as chemically dependent
  • Peace officers informally admitted to treatment facilities for chemical dependency
  • Fugitives from justice
  • Illegal aliens
  • Dishonorably discharged from the armed forces
  • Renounced U.S. citizenship

Criminal History Status:

The following crimes are defined by law as crimes of violence. Persons convicted of felony-level offenses for these crimes (or an attempt to commit them) are ineligible for permits to carry a pistol (or to possess any firearm) for life unless those rights are specially restored. Conviction for a similar crime in another state also applies:

• Murder
• Manslaughter
• Aiding suicide or attempted suicide
• First through fourth degree assault
• Crimes committed for the benefit of a gang
• Use of drugs to injure or to facilitate crime
• Simple or aggravated robbery
• Kidnapping
• False imprisonment
• Criminal sexual conduct in the first through fourth degrees
• Malicious punishment of a child
• Neglect or endangerment of a child
• Commission of a crime while wearing or possessing a bullet-resistant vest
• Firearm theft
• Motor vehicle unauthorized use
• Theft/looting
• Theft of a controlled substance, an explosive, or an incendiary device
• First or second degree arson
• Burglary in the first through third degree
• Drive-by shooting
• Unlawfully owning, possessing, or operating a machine gun or short-barreled shotgun
• Riot
• Terroristic threats
• Harassment and stalking
• Shooting at a public transit vehicle or facility
• Violations of the controlled substance laws

Other felonies.

A person convicted of any other felony is ineligible for a permit to carry a pistol until the person’s civil rights are restored. The time period may be longer for persons expressly prohibited from possessing a firearm as a condition of a pardon, expungement, or restoration of civil rights. Certain antitrust and other business practice violations are excluded.

Specified gross misdemeanors.

A person convicted of the following crimes as a gross misdemeanor is not entitled to possess a firearm for three years from the date of conviction:

  • Crime committed for the benefit of a gang
  • Assaults motivated by bias
  • False imprisonment
  • Neglect or endangerment of a child
  • Burglary in the fourth degree
  • Setting a spring gun
  • Riot
  • Harassment and stalking.

Other controlled substance crimes.

A person convicted of a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor controlled substance crime, or hospitalized or committed for controlled substance abuse, is ineligible for a permit to carry a pistol unless the person obtains a doctor’s certificate, or other satisfactory proof, that the person has not abused a controlled substance for two years.

Domestic assault, Order for Protection Violation, Stalking/Harassment.

A person convicted of domestic assault, an OFP violation, stalking, or harassment may not possess a pistol for three years from the date of conviction. If the person used a firearm in committing the crime, the court may extend the restriction to any type of firearm for a period from three years to life. (Note: under federal law, any person convicted of misdemeanor domestic assault may not possess any firearm unless the conviction has been expunged or a pardon has been granted.)

Other assault crimes (non-domestic).

A person who is convicted of assault twice in three years may not possess a pistol for three years from the date of the second conviction.

Person charged with felony.

A person charged with a felony may not receive, ship, or transport a pistol or assault weapon.

Others.

A person may not possess a firearm if:

• charged with a crime of violence and placed in a pretrial diversion program;
• flees from a state to avoid prosecution or testifying; or
• “is an unlawful user” of a controlled substance.