In 2024, Minnesota enhanced its straw purchasing law to make it a felony for a person to intentionally transfer a firearm to someone that they know or reasonably should know is disqualified from possessing a firearm under state law or denied a permit on the basis of disqualification under state law.¹ The criminal penalty for such a transfer is enhanced if the firearm is used in furtherance of a violent felony within one year of the transfer. ²

This law includes an affirmative defense for members of a transferee’s family or household who are coerced into transfering a firearm under threat of death or substantial bodily harm. ³

Beyond this law, in Minnesota, a person other than a federally licensed dealer who transfers a handgun or semiautomatic military-style assault weapon without complying with state background check requirements is criminally liable only if the transferee possesses or uses the firearm within one year after the transfer in furtherance of a felony crime of violence, and:

• The transferee was prohibited from possessing the weapon under Minnesota law at the time of the transfer; or
• It was reasonably foreseeable at the time of the transfer that the transferee was likely to use or possess the weapon in furtherance of a felony crime of violence.⁴

Additionally, a person who recklessly furnishes another person with a firearm in conscious disregard of a known substantial risk that it will be possessed or used in furtherance of a felony crime of violence is criminally liable for a felony.⁵

Minnesota also prohibits any persons from making a false statement in order to obtain a transferee permit to possess a handgun or semiautomatic military-style assault weapon knowing or having reason to know the statement is false.⁶

In Minnesota it is a “gross misdemeanor” to purchase or otherwise obtain a firearm on behalf of or for transfer to a person known to be ineligible to possess or purchase a firearm pursuant to federal or state law.⁷

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1. Minn. Stat. § 624.7141, subd. 1.[↩]
2. Minn. Stat. § 624.7141, subd. 2.[↩]
3. Minn. Stat. § 624.7141, subd. 4.[↩]
4. Minn. Stat. § 609.66, subd. 1f.[↩]
5. Minn. Stat. § 609.66, subd. 1c.[↩]
6. Minn. Stat. § 624.7131, subd. 11.[↩]
7. Minn. Stat. § 624.7133.[↩]