Effort to expand campus firearm restriction authority fails in committee

Rep. Nathan Coulter (DFL–Bloomington) paused Tuesday as he recalled being 12 years old when the Columbine High School shooting occurred.

This year’s first-year college students, he noted, were born a decade later and have never known a life when school shootings were not an everyday possibility.

Many people, he said, may not fully grasp what it feels like to be a student or a parent living under the shadow of school shootings. Frustration with inaction shaped the bill he presented to the House Higher Education Finance and Policy Committee.

HF4362 would allow Minnesota’s public colleges and universities to restrict firearms carried by visitors, including permit holders. It failed to advance on a party-line vote.

Current law permits such restrictions for students and employees but does not allow Minnesota State to have a policy prohibiting visitors with legal permits from carrying a pistol. The University of Minnesota has policies, but no criminal penalty.

Supporters said the bill would close a loophole and allow institutions — not the state — to decide what policies best fit their campuses. Granting this power is not a requirement to use it and using this power will not guarantee there won’t be violence, Coulter emphasized. “Given growing frustration, why shouldn’t we try?”

Faculty representatives said that when a student or employee is seen carrying a firearm in violation of policy, officials can act. But if the person is not recognized as part of the campus community, there’s nothing the school can now do.

Opponents said the bill targets law-abiding permit holders and runs counter to national trends.

NRA Minnesota State Director Brian Gosch said states such as New Hampshire are loosening restrictions on carrying firearms on campus, not expanding them.

Rep. Paul Novotny (R-Elk River) noted that shootings have occurred on campuses that already ban guns, and the bill could make campuses less safe. “When the wolf attacks, don’t take claws and teeth away from a dog for protection.”

Anna Leamy, director of government relations and advocacy for the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, said public colleges have “enormous geographic footprints” of streets, sidewalks and greenspaces that blend into surrounding neighborhoods. Unlike public buildings such as courthouses, she said, campuses have poorly defined boundaries.