Minnesota prohibits the possession, storing, or keeping of a firearm while knowingly on school property.¹

School property includes:

• Public or private elementary, middle, or secondary school buildings and its improved grounds, whether leased or owned by the school;
• A child care center licensed under state law during the period children are present and participating in a child care program;
• The area within a school bus when that bus is being used by a school to transport one or more elementary, middle, or secondary school students to or from school-related activities; and
• That portion of a building or facility under the temporary, exclusive control of a public or private school, a school district, or an association of such entities where conspicuous signs are prominently posted at each entrance that give actual notice to persons of the school-related use.²

Exceptions to the prohibition of gun possession on school property include:

• Persons authorized to carry a handgun while in a motor vehicle or outside of a motor vehicle to directly place a firearm in, or retrieve it from, the trunk or rear area of the vehicle;
• Persons who keep or store in a motor vehicle firearms in accordance with provisions under state law;
• Firearm safety or marksmanship courses or activities conducted on school property;
• A gun or knife show held on school property; or
• Persons who are on unimproved property owned or leased by a child care center, school, or school district unless the person knows that a student is currently present on the land for a school-related activity.³

Minnesota prohibits any person with a permit to carry a firearm from carrying a firearm on or about the person’s clothes or person in a location the person knows is school property.⁴ Exceptions to this prohibition include possession by a handgun carry permittee who lawfully stores a firearm in a motor vehicle, or while he or she is in a motor vehicle, or while he or she is directly placing a firearm in or retrieving it from the trunk or rear area of a vehicle.⁵

School boards are required to expel for a period of at least one year a pupil who brought a firearm to school.⁶ A board may modify this expulsion requirement for a pupil on a case-by-case basis.⁷

A public postsecondary institution regulated under state law may establish policies that restrict the carrying or possession of firearms by its students while on the institution’s property, and academic sanctions may be invoked for a violation.⁸ A postsecondary institution may not prohibit the lawful possession of firearms in a parking facility or parking area.⁹

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1. Minn. Stat. § 609.66, subd. 1d(a).[↩]
2. Minn. Stat. § 609.66, subd. 1d(e)(4).[↩]
3. Minn. Stat. § 609.66, subd. 1d(f).[↩]
4. Minn. Stat. § 609.66, subd. 1d(d).[↩]
5. Minn. Stat. § 609.66, subd. 1d(f)(3), (4).[↩]
6. Minn. Stat. § 121A.44(a).[↩]
7. Id.[↩]
8. Minn. Stat. § 624.714, subd. 18(b).[↩]
9. Minn. Stat. § 624.714, subd. 18(c).[↩]