St. Paul City Council Organizational & Policy Committee Meeting - October 15, 2025
St. Paul City Council Organizational & Policy Committee Meeting - October 15, 2025
The Organizational and Policy Committee convened to discuss gun violence prevention, focusing on a proposed city ordinance contingent on the lifting of state preemption laws. Council President Naker and Councilmember Johnson chaired the session, highlighting their personal support for the initiative. Community advocates, city staff, and state legislators presented on the feasibility of banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, the importance of safe storage, and the utilization of Extreme Risk Protection Orders (ERPOs).
Consent Calendar
- No routine approvals or unanimous actions documented in this specific agenda item.
Public Comments & Testimony
- St. Paul Moms Demand Action (Gretchen Damon, Dr. Emily Benzi, Anne Leduc): Expressed full support for the proposed ordinance and urged the council to partner with the Mayor and state delegation to lift preemption. They advocated for banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and emphasized the need for public education on ERPOs and secure firearm storage. Dr. Benzi specifically asked the council to support the Mayor's push to lift preemption and to pass an ordinance ready for enforcement as soon as state law allows.
- Protect Minnesota (Maggie Emery): Stated that mass shootings with assault weapons result in significantly more casualties and argued that regulating these weapons is legal and necessary. They expressed full support for local bans and noted that 14 states and DC have successfully banned assault weapons.
- State Representative Dave Pinto: Expressed support for diverse legislative strategies, including a special session proposal rejected by Republican leadership. He emphasized the need for Republican colleagues to support lifting preemption and highlighted existing state laws like ERPOs and background checks.
- Councilmember Gang: Expressed strong support for the ordinance, sharing a personal experience with gun violence involving a family member. She requested clarification on firearm serial number locations and tampering laws.
Discussion Items
- State Preemption and Local Authority: Chief Policy Officer Mr. Greenfield explained that Minnesota statute since 1985 explicitly preempts local regulation of firearms, with only two narrow exceptions. The group discussed that while federal and state laws constrain action, cities in states without preemption (e.g., Chicago, Philadelphia) have enacted bans.
- Proposed Ordinance Details: Intergovernmental Relations Director Bryn House outlined the Mayor's proposed ordinance, which includes banning assault weapons, restricting high-capacity magazines to 20 rounds (distinct from the 10 rounds advocated by Moms Demand Action), requiring serial numbers to combat "ghost guns," and restricting firearms in sensitive places like parks and libraries. She noted enforcement would only begin after state preemption is lifted.
- Definitions and Technicalities: Councilmember Coleman questioned the distinction between 10 and 20 rounds, noting the industry standard has shifted. Councilmember Bowie inquired about the serialization requirements, noting that municipalities lack the capacity to enforce serialization programs independently without state support.
- ERPO Implementation: Anne Leduc explained the Ease of Access for Extreme Risk Protection Orders, asking the council to disseminate information via newsletters and social media. Councilmember Johnson asked for clarification on how ERPOs parallel existing orders for protection and harassment orders, which was detailed by Representative Pinto.
- Coalition Building: Councilmember Coleman and Councilmember Johnson discussed the importance of building a broad coalition across Minnesota municipalities, noting varied governance structures (strong mayor vs. council-manager) and the need for unified local leadership.
Key Outcomes
- The committee acknowledged the proposed ordinance banning assault weapons, 20-round magazines, and binary triggers, with a scheduled First Reading on October 22, 2025.
- Council members expressed strong support for the initiative, contingent on the eventual lifting of state preemption.
- The committee directed staff to continue collaboration with community organizations and clarified that the ordinance includes a trigger clause to go into effect upon state legislative action.
- No vote was taken during this policy committee session; the matter was referred to the full council for the upcoming first reading.
- Staff will follow up with Councilmember Jose regarding the specific details of transportation exemptions for firearms traveling through the city.
Meeting Transcript
Okay, so calling the meeting of the city council's organizational and policy committee to order. Roll call, please. Council President Naker. Councilmember Bowie. Here. Councilmember Coleman. Here. Councilmember Johnson. Here. Councilmember Jost. Here. Councilmember Kim. Councilmember Yang. Here. Seeing five present, two absent. Wonderful. Um, so thank you so much, Jacket. I appreciate that. Welcome back, uh, folks to the organization and policy committee. I appreciate you guys for being with me on my first time uh being able to chair this committee. Uh, as the council president is out today. It looks like we have one item, but there's several presentations that'll be within that one item. So it looks like it'll be like there's a lot of context added to it. But this is a really important discussion. Um, in early September, we heard uh the mayor's budget address, and we heard the urge for state officials as well as so as elected to like to consider a unified set of ordinances and ways to address uh gun violence and gun violence prevention in our city. I personally am really supportive of this effort. I think, you know, for me, I live on the east side of St. Paul, but I think there's a lot of things where we are at a point in time where no action is just not acceptable any further. And so I'm really excited about this discussion being brought up today. Thank you to all of the speakers that will be able to come up uh and share other presentations, Mr. Greenfield. I appreciate you being here as well to kick us off just to talk about um the uh gun violence prevention work that we can do at the local level, and I think just in general, as we hold questions and uh discussions or anything that may hold for us. I want to make sure that we have an equitable amount of time for each presentation and presenter. So I'll try to pace us accordingly to just get through the hour because then we have the HRA meeting at two. But uh, welcome, Mr. Greenfield. Thank you, Chair Johnson and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to begin this policy committee session on gun violence prevention policies. As chief policy officer for the city council, I'm here today to begin today's presentation with an overview of where the city may find its space to potentially regulate firearms. We know that in the existing landscape, preemption seems to dominate everyone's conversation. So I want to start from a high level to talk about preemption and then kind of zoom into where the city has acted in the past under existing state law in terms of ordinance and then what other states have enabled cities that aren't bound by preemption to potentially do will also be a highlight of the ending point of my discussion. So start from a high level and then kind of move into more narrow and specific examples. As everyone is aware, there is both concurrent state and federal authority with regulating firearms. The Constitution allows Congress to regulate firearms through the Commerce Clause, but the limitation of the second second amendment also places a significant constraint on the level of government action towards firearms and a five-minute conversation on that would be nearly impossible. So I will move past the federal conversation to discuss state law, as members of the committee may be aware. But in terms of how state law has affected the cities, Minnesota statute since 1985, Section 471633 has explicitly preempted all cities, counties, towns, and other governmental subdivisions from regulating firearms, ammunition, or their respective components. There are two exceptions to that regulation to that complete exclusion as the term of the statute is. So in this sense, the preemption seems to be the way forward um that to allow more effective uh uh more direct action against firearms uh and their components. So with that, I think it's kind of a uh a clear gateway towards uh potential further action, and I know that the council has and the and the mayor are you know have put forth proposals under that kind of auspice of once preemption is concluded, uh certain regulations would take effect. Thank you, Mr.
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