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Firearms in Minnesota: by the numbers

A brief overview of what we know about guns in Minnesota — and what we don’t know.

By , , and

A brief overview of what we know about guns in Minnesota — and what we don’t know.

Minnesota's gun law ranking, according to the Brady Scorecard, which concludes the state has "weak gun laws that help feed the illegal gun market and allows the sale of guns without background checks and put children at risk."
Source Brady Scorecard
91,221
Active permits to carry as of Dec. 31, 2011 1
Source MN Dept of Public Safety
337,534
Background checks in 2011
Source National Instant Criminal Background Checks System.
7 days
Maximum waiting period before issuance of a permit to purchase handguns or assault weapons 3
Source MN Revisor of Statutes
$76,795
NRA campaign contributions to and outside spending on behalf of Minnesota congressional candidates in 2012 2
Source Open Secrets [1] and [2]
495
Criminal forfeitures of firearms in 2011
Source MN State Auditor

What we don't know about guns in Minnesota:

  1. The total number of guns in the state.
  2. The amount of ammunition sold or owned.
  3. The number of gun owners.
  4. A breakdown of the types of guns sold in Minnesota.
  5. The number of guns sold at gunshows.
  6. The number of guns trafficked and sold illegally.

Population data from 2010 MN State Legislature GIS county files. Permit to Carry numbers from 2011 MN Department of Public Safety report. Star icon from The Noun Project.

1 Report of valid permits for applications received from 05/01/2003 to 12/31/2011 and valid on or before 12/31/2011 for all the counties.
2 The total NRA contributions number is both contributions to campaigns and money spent on behalf of candidates, but independent of their campaigns.
3 The law defining the waiting period is not precise and refers to both a 5 business day and 7 day waiting period.