Senate Panel To Take Up Guns, Background Checks

by Associated Press
March 14, 2013 7:30 AM


A Senate panel is set to vote on changes to Minnesota's gun laws, including whether to require background checks for all gun purchases.
 
The Senate Judiciary Committee will discuss a bill Thursday night that would expand the state's background checks and help county attorneys crack down on illegal gun owners.
 
Sen. Ron Latz, a St. Louis Park Democrat who chairs the committee, says his bill is a compromise between competing legislation. It contains many provisions in an alternate, modest gun plan backed by the National Rifle Association.
 
The NRA bill, first unveiled last week, would not expand background checks. That legislation has many Republican and Democratic co-sponsors in both chambers.
 
Latz says the committee will also hear the Senate version of that bill, introduced Monday by Republican Sen. Julianne Ortman.