While arguing against a proposal for safe storage requirements for firearms, Minnesota state Sen. Warren Limmer (R-Maple Grove) contended that rural citizens need guns readily available to deal with cows.
“You even walk too close to a cow, and it’ll take you down and trample you into dust,” Limmer said. “Fumbling around with a lock while a cow or a bull or any other animal is going after your daughter or your son — you can’t fumble around with a key or try and find the lockbox or put your thumb on a biometric key of some sort in your home while the danger is outside. This bill puts those individuals in even more danger.”
If passed, the proposal known as Senate File 4312 would establish standards throughout the state of Minnesota for the safe storage of firearms and outline criminal penalties for failing to meet them. After Limmer’s cow concern was heard, the proposal passed the Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety on party lines and was then recommended to the Finance Committee. When Republicans controlled the Minnesota state Senate as recently as 2022, Limmer served as the chair of the Judiciary Committee, where he routinely refused to hear new bills about gun safety.
