This article contains critical information for pro-gun voters.
If you haven’t already voted, the gun-rights information below might help you decide which candidate you may or may not want to support.
(To find out what district you live in, click here. To find out who your candidates for the Minnesota House are, click here. To find your voting location, click here. Most polls open at 7am, but some can choose to open as late as 10am. All polls close at 8pm.)
Early this summer, Minnesota Gun Rights set out to survey each and every candidate that was running to be your elected voice in St. Paul.
As a service to our membership, we wanted to find out where the candidates stand on the important gun-related issues that, if elected, your representative will likely face at the capitol.
It was a simple, 8-question survey designed to give voters an idea of where their candidate stands on the issue of gun-rights. Moreover, it was a survey which would allow gun-owners to hold their elected representatives accountable should they find out their politician lied just to get in office.
We asked questions about issues like supporting Constitutional Carry, opposing standard-capacity magazine bans, opposing Bloomberg’s Universal Gun Registration schemes and more.
We sent them out to every single candidate expecting that pro-gun candidates would fill them out so that pro-gun voters would know where they stand.
Unfortunately, we immediately began hearing rumors that a key anti-gun legislator was calling around to other candidates telling them not to fill out the 2014 Minnesota Gun Rights Candidate Questionnaire. The reason? Because “they aren’t willing to have reasonable discussions about gun-rights†and “they have no interest in acting respectful towards legislators that don’t agree with their beliefs on the 2nd Amendment.â€
We admit freely we don’t believe in wiggle-room when it comes to the 2nd Amendment. If pro-gun organizations sit down at the table of compromise, they walk away a loser every time.
It isn’t enough anymore to simply say, “I love to hunt, and I’m a strong supporter of our 2nd Amendment.â€
Heck, President Obama says the same thing. So do the 6 “A-rated” United States Senators who voted for Manchin-Toomey Background Checks in 2013, the biggest gun-control push in a generation. And so have a myriad of local politicians in states like New York, Connecticut or Colorado where they’ve passed Draconian gun-control laws which made outlaws out of hundreds of thousands of law-abiding citizens.
With Michael Bloomberg choosing Minnesota as the state he wants to make a gun-control model for the rest of the nation, the possibility of gun-control isn’t theoretical anymore.
So with that in mind, the results of the survey program are listed below.
If your legislator is not listed, they either listened to the advice of the political class in St. Paul or lacked the courage to put their conviction on paper.
Either way, we encourage pro-gun voters to go to the polls and fight for our 2nd Amendment Rights.
Without the 2nd Amendment, the rest of our Rights will fall.
For Freedom,
Chris Dorr
Executive Director
Question #1: If elected, would you support legislation to implement no-permit necessary, “Constitutional Carry,†which would allow law-abiding citizens to carry firearms concealed for self-defense, without a government-issued permit or training card?
Question #2: If elected, would you support the passage of a bill to render unconstitutional federal gun controls unenforceable in the state of Minnesota, with strong enforcement provisions, such as the Firearms Protection Act?
Question #3: If elected, would you oppose legislation to limit the sale, manufacture, importation, or possession of rifles, shotguns or handguns (including semi-automatic firearms); or magazines with certain arbitrary capacity limits?
Question #4: If elected, would you support legislation to eliminate restrictions on law-abiding gun owners from carrying a firearm in certain so-called “Gun-Free†areas, otherwise known as “Criminal Safe Zones?â€
Question #5: If elected, would you support legislation to allow law-abiding and legally eligible citizens — including students — to carry concealed on state-run college and university campuses?
Question #6: If elected, would you oppose legislation to restrict law-abiding citizens from privately selling firearms to other law-abiding citizens without requiring a Federal Firearms Licensee as an intermediary or a state or federal background check?
Question #7: If elected, would you oppose all so-called “mental-health†legislation that would deny law-abiding individuals their gun rights without due process through a court of law?
Question #8: If elected, would you support legislation strengthening Minnesota’s self-defense laws by eliminating the so-called “duty-to-retreat†and allowing the use of force or if necessary, deadly force, if an individual is attacked in a place they have a right to be?
Legend: R=Republican, DFL=Democratic Farmer Labor, Y=Yes, N=No, S=Sponsor, C=Co-sponsor
Dist Name Party 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
02A Hancock, Dave R C N Y N C Y Y C
03B Fremling, Wade R C S Y S S Y Y S
04A Gramer, Brian E. R S C Y S N Y Y C
04B Laduke, Jared R S S Y S S Y Y S
05A Nelson, Phillip R S S Y S S Y Y S
05B Anzelc, Tom DFL C S Y C S Y Y C
07A Hall, Becky R C C Y C C Y Y C
08A Nornes, Bud R N N N N N N N N
08B Sieling, Jay DFL N C Y N C N N N
09B Doty, Al DFL C C Y C C Y N C
10B Lueck, Dale R C S Y C C Y Y C
11A Hafvenstein, Tim R C C Y C C Y Y S
11B Rarick, Jason R C S Y C S Y Y C
12A Backer, Jeff R S C N S C Y Y S
12B Anderson, Paul R C C Y C C Y Y C
13A Howe, Jeff R C C Y S C Y Y C
15A Erickson, Sondra R C C Y C C Y Y C
19A Spears, Kim R C C Y C C Y Y C
19B Kruse, Dave R C C Y C C Y Y C
21A Kelly, Tim R C C Y C C Y Y S
21B Schneider, M.A. DFL N N N N N Y N N
21B Drazkowski, Steve R S S Y C C Y Y C
22A Schomacker, Joe R N N N N N N N N N
23A Gunther, Bob R C C Y C C Y Y C
26B Wright, Rich DFL N N Y N N Y Y N
27B Schminke, Dennis R C N Y C C Y Y C
28A Hahn, Lynae R C S Y C C Y Y S
28B Davids, Gregory M. R C C Y C C Y Y C
29A McDonald, Joe R C C Y S C Y Y S
30A Zerwas, Nick R N C Y C C Y Y C
30B Lucero, Eric R S S Y S S Y Y S
33B Pugh, Cindy R C C Y S S Y Y C
39A Dettmer, Bob R C C Y C C Y Y C
39A Stender, Tim DFL N C Y S S Y Y C
39B Lohmer, Kathy R C C Y C C Y Y C
40A Sutphen, Charles R S S Y S S Y Y S
41B Utz, Tim CP C C Y S C Y Y S
43B Whitethorn, Justice R S S Y S S Y N S
45A Lieberman, Richard R C C Y C C Y Y C
47A Nash, Jim R S S Y S S Y Y S
47A Gieseke, Matthew W. DFL N C Y S N N N N
52A Blum, Joe R S C Y S C Y Y S
54A Kowalski, Matthew R S C Y C C Y Y C
54B McNamara, Denny R N N N N N N N N N
55A Loonan, Bob R N C Y N N Y Y C
55B Ondish, Josh D. I S S Y S S Y Y S
56B Peterson, Roz R C C Y C C Y Y C
59A Statema, Fred R N C Y C C N N C
61B Gallagher, Tom R S S Y S S Y Y S
62A Lundeen, Bruce R S S N S C Y Y S
62B Hanson, Julie R C C Y C C Y Y C
63A Bragg, Kyle R C C Y C C Y Y C
64A Brown, Andrew R S S Y S S Y Y S
66A Heyer, Jon R C C Y C C N Y C
66B Paulson, Lizz R C S N S C Y Y C