Illustration by Tyler Comrie
MN Gun Illustration
As the nation grieved the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, it also took pause to consider the role easily accessible, assault-style weapons played in the carnage. While new bipartisan gun legislation worked its way through Capitol Hill, we wondered exactly where Minnesota fit on the gun spectrum.
As it happens, finding precise data points on gun ownership, locally and nationally, is nearly impossible because the bulk of that data either isn’t kept or is inherently inaccurate due to the volume of guns transferred between individuals.
What we do know is that, as far as gun laws go nationally, ours are relatively modest. Those who purchase guns through a federally licensed dealer need to go through a background check, but there’s no mandated check to transfer a gun between private parties—and the state does not regulate gun shows. People must be 18 or older to own most guns (including semiautomatic military-style assault weapons) and 21 or older for a permit to carry. Minnesota has implemented waiting periods for certain guns purchased through federally licensed dealers, and ammunition sales are also regulated.
Here’s a snapshot of Minnesota gun numbers as they stand today.
387,013
Number of valid permits to carry in Minnesota as of March 1, 2022
462
Average number of gun deaths annually in Minnesota (76 percent suicides, 20 percent homicides, 2 percent shootings by police, 2 percent other reasons). Minnesota has one of the lowest gun death rates in the country.
106,488
Permit to carry licenses issued in Minnesota in 2021 (the most of any year since the Personal Protection Act was enacted in 2003)
42.8
Estimated percentage of Minnesota households that own at least one gun (34th in the country)
8,779
Number of machine guns registered in Minnesota as of May 2021
129,825
Number of registered weapons in Minnesota in 2021 (20th in the country)
391,860
Number of firearm checks in Minnesota by the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) in 2022, as of May 31. (NICS performed 945,299 total in Minnesota in 2021.)
