February 9, 2023
On February 3, the House Public Safety Finance and Policy Committee heard several bills intended to reduce the rates of firearm death and injury in Minnesota.
MMA President Will Nicholson, MD, testified in support of universal background checks (HF 14, Pinto, DFL – St. Paul) and extreme risk protection orders, (HF 15 Frazier, DFL – New Hope).
“Gun rights organizations scolded physicians for our advocacy on behalf of firearm safety measures, urging us to ‘stay in our lane,’” Nicholson said. “Not only do physicians work to repair the damage to tissue and organs following a gunshot wound, we are also often tasked with telling family members that their beloved son, mother, or grandfather has died as a result of their wounds. This is very much in our lane.”
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| MMA President Will Nicholson, MD, testifies on firearm safety on February 3. |
Nicholson also pointed out the troubling statistics surrounding firearm death and injury, especially related to suicide. Roughly three in five deaths by firearm in this country are suicides, representing an average of 65 people dying each day. In Minnesota, according to the Department of Health, nearly 69 percent of firearm deaths are suicides.
The committee also acted on two other bills-- HF396 (Becker-Finn, DFL – Roseville) requiring safe storage requirements and HF601 (Her, DFL – St. Paul) requiring reporting of lost or stolen firearms. All of the bills passed and were referred out of the committee on party-line votes.
HF 14 and HF 15 received a further hearing in the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee on February 9. Both bills passed and were referred to the House Ways & Means Committee, the last stop before going to the House floor.
In order to ensure that legislators are hearing from supporters of these bills, the MMA sent an Action Alert to all members urging them to reach out to their legislators to support the firearm safety bills. If you haven’t already, please contact your state legislators asking them to support these common-sense firearm safety measures. You can find the contact information for your state senator and representative here.
These bills have yet to be heard in the Senate but are expected to receive their first hearings in the next few weeks.
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