May 11, 2023
On May 10, the Judiciary and Public Safety Budget Conference Committee approved a budget agreement that includes two firearm safety policies – universal background checks for firearm exchanges and the authorization of extreme risk protection orders, otherwise known as “red flag” laws.
“Adoption of these items in the committee report indicates that there are the votes to pass it in both bodies,” said Chad Fahning, MMA manager of state legislative affairs. “This is a monumental step for advocates who’ve pushed for these policies for years.” Once approved by the conference committee, the final report will go back to both bodies for a final vote, and then go to Gov. Tim Walz, who has said he will sign them.
Death and injury from firearms has become a major public health problem in the country and has been a priority to address for the MMA. “Gun rights organizations have scolded physicians for our advocacy on behalf of firearm safety measures, urging us to ‘stay in our lane.’ This is very much in our lane,” testified MMA President Will Nicholson, MD, before a House committee earlier this session. “When more than 45,000 Americans die because of firearm violence, 4,357 of whom were children ages 1 to 19, there’s no other way to describe it. This is a public health crisis.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), firearms are now the number one cause of death for children in the United States, surpassing motor vehicle deaths in 2020.
The legislation would implement universal background checks for firearm sales and transfers including most private firearm transactions. Additionally, the bill permits law enforcement and family members to petition a court to temporarily remove firearms if a person poses a significant danger to themselves or others by possessing a firearm.
“While much of the focus around firearms in recent years has been on mass shooting events, the untold story about firearm violence is the alarming and very real link to suicides,” said MMA President-elect Laurel Ries, MD, at a Senate committee hearing on extreme risk protection orders in March. “Removing firearms from the immediate vicinity of a potential victim can reduce death. When a person is in crisis, loved ones and law enforcement are often the first to see warning signs that he or she poses a threat. Extreme risk protective orders empower family and law enforcement to petition for an order that removes guns from a high-risk situation.”
According to data from the Minnesota Department of Health, firearms were the leading method of suicide in the state, accounting for 69 percent of all suicide deaths in Minnesota. Suicide is listed as the eighth leading cause of death in the state. Additionally, according to the CDC, in 2014, about 87% of firearm suicide attempts were fatal compared to just 3% of attempts by drug overdoses. Suicide attempts involving firearms are 2.6 times more lethal than the second most lethal suicide method - suffocation. Suicide is now the third leading cause of death among adolescents and young adults (ages 15-24 years) and the second leading cause of death among young adolescents (ages 10-14 years).
May 29, 2025
As the Legislature works to complete its work on the state’s two-year budget, another deadline is looming. Legislators are required to pass a balanced budget before the end of the fiscal year—June 30, 2025. If they don’t meet that deadline, the state will begin a partial shutdown.
May 29, 2025
Registration has opened for the Empowering Physicians: A Night of Reflection and Engagement event, featuring best-selling author Elisabeth Rosenthal, MD.
May 29, 2025
The AMA is encouraging physicians to contact their U.S. senators and urge them to revise the reconciliation bill passed recently by the U.S. House of Representatives. While the bill includes language that would stabilize Medicare physician payments, it also threatens to cripple Medicaid and CHIP.