Minnesota does not:

• Require a license to purchase or possess ammunition
• Require sellers of ammunition to maintain a record of the purchasers

Prohibited Persons

Minnesota generally extends its laws regarding persons prohibited from possessing firearms to include parallel prohibitions preventing such persons from possessing ammunition as well.¹

Ammunition Sales Licensing/Regulation

Minnesota does not require a license to sell ammunition. The state does prohibit the display of centerfire metallic-case handgun ammunition for sale to the public in a manner that makes the ammunition directly accessible to persons under age 18, unless the display is under observation of the seller or the seller’s employee or agent, or the seller takes reasonable steps to exclude underage persons from the immediate vicinity of the display.²

Minimum Age to Purchase/Possess Ammunition

Under Minnesota law, a person under the age of 18 years is generally prohibited from possessing ammunition, except that a person under 18 may possess ammunition designed for use in a firearm that the person may lawfully possess.³

Minnesota generally bans furnishing ammunition to a child under age 14 outside of a municipality,⁴ and to a minor (under age 18) without the consent of the minor’s parent or guardian or the police department of the municipality, while within the municipality.⁵ Federal ammunition age restrictions also apply.

Restricting Locations Where Ammunition May be Possessed

Minnesota generally prohibits the possession of ammunition within any courthouse complex or state building within the Capitol Area, other than the National Guard Armory.⁶

Regulation of Unreasonably Dangerous Ammunition

Minnesota prohibits the use or possession of a “metal-penetrating bullet” during the commission of a crime.⁷ A “metal-penetrating bullet” is defined as a handgun bullet of “9 mm,.25,.32,.357,.38,.41,.44, or.451 caliber which is comprised of a hardened core equal to the minimum of the maximum attainable hardness by solid red metal alloys which purposely reduces the normal expansion or mushrooming of the bullet’s shape upon impact.”⁸

 Federal prohibitions on armor-piercing ammunition also apply.

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1. Minn. Stat. §§ 624.713, subd. 1, 1a, 2.[↩]
2. Minn. Stat. § 609.663.[↩]
3. Minn. Stat. §§ 624.713, subd. 1(1).[↩]
4. Minn. Stat. § 609.66, subd. 1(a)(6).[↩]
5. Minn. Stat. § 609.66, subd. 1b.[↩]
6. Minn. Stat. § 609.66, subd. 1g(a).[↩]
7. Minn. Stat. § 624.7191, subd. 3.[↩]
8. Minn. Stat. § 624.7191, subd. 2.[↩]