Minnesota’s binary trigger ban remains unenforceable after the Court of Appeals affirmed that lawmakers violated the state constitution’s Single-Subject Clause.
The Minnesota Court of Appeals affirmed a constitutional victory for the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus in Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus v. Walz, a case brought with representation from the Upper Midwest Law Center.
The case challenged Minnesota’s binary trigger ban, which lawmakers included in the massive 2024 omnibus law. The Court of Appeals affirmed the Ramsey County District Court’s ruling that the binary trigger provision violates the Minnesota Constitution’s Single-Subject Clause and must be severed from the rest of the law.
The provision expanded the definition of “trigger activator” to include devices that allow a firearm to shoot once when the trigger is pulled and again when it is released. In practice, the law criminalized binary triggers.
Why the Case Matters
The Minnesota Constitution requires that “no law shall embrace more than one subject.” This protection exists to prevent lawmakers from burying unrelated or controversial provisions inside large bills where they may avoid full debate and public scrutiny.
That is exactly what happened here.
The binary trigger ban was included in the 2024 omnibus law, titled as legislation relating to “the operation and financing of state government.” At the district court level, the State conceded that the binary trigger provision was not germane to that subject.
The Court of Appeals affirmed the constitutional violation and rejected the State’s attempts to have the case dismissed under the political-question doctrine and the so-called codification rule.
“This ruling is an important victory for constitutional accountability,” said Doug Seaton, President and Founder of the Upper Midwest Law Center. “The Single-Subject Clause exists to prevent lawmakers from burying controversial or unrelated provisions inside massive bills and forcing Minnesotans to live under laws passed through legislative gamesmanship. The Court of Appeals affirmed that the Constitution still controls how laws are made in Minnesota.”
A Warning on the 2024 Omnibus Law
While the Court declined to strike down the entire omnibus law, it affirmed the district court’s decision to sever the binary trigger provision and leave the rest of the law intact.
Even so, the Court expressed serious concern about the breadth of the 2024 omnibus law, quoting the district court’s observation that “if there has ever been a bill without a common theme and where all bounds of reason and restraint seem to have been abandoned, this is it.”
The decision matters beyond this single firearms provision. UMLC continues with other cases challenging the 2024 Omnibus Tax Act and seeking to invalidate it entirely, as a deterrent to such legislative violations. The present ruling is a positive development and reinforces a basic principle: lawmakers must follow the Constitution when passing laws, even in the final hours of session.
Read the Court of Appeals opinion here.