The Minnesota Department of Public Safety Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) yesterday released their annual Permit to Carry Report.  It shows Minnesota sheriffs issued more firearms permits in 2020 than any year since the state passed legislation allowing them.

Rice County Sheriff Troy Dunn told KDHL approximately 250 more permits were issued in 2020 which also set a record.  Dunn pointed out permits requested always go up during election years.

The Personal Protection Act was passed in 2003.  Minnesota sheriffs reported 101,897 permits were applied for and 96,554 permits issued in 2020.

The permits are for five years.

The top ten counties in numbers of permits issued are:

  1. Hennepin   11,346
  2. Dakota          7,754
  3. Anoka           7,326
  4. Ramsey        5,990
  5. Washington  5,679
  6. St. Louis       4,376
  7. Wright           3,560
  8. Scott             2,875
  9. Sherburne    2,864
  10. Stearns        2,562

Rice County ranked 21st with 998 issued out of 1048 applications.  9 were denied, 1 canceled.  There are 40 pending according to the BCA Permit Status by County 2020.

Here is a listing of permits issued from some other area counties.

  • Goodhue     1,163
  • Steele             740
  • Wabasha        667
  • LeSueur          656
  • Waseca           412
  • Dodge              542
  • Olmsted        1,580
  • Mower              639
  • Blue Earth     1,040

The report says individuals with permits committed 3,110 crimes in 2020.  The highest number since passage of the Personal Protection Act.

The BCA information furthur states, "Less than 2 percent were crimes where firearms were used in furtherance of a crime.  More than 51 percent were DWI's or other traffic offenses.  30 percent were from the Other category which includes less serious offenses such as city ordinance violations and DNR hunting, fishing and recreational vehicle violations."

As of March 1, 2021 the total number of valid permits in Minnesota is 358,897.

Other information included by county:

  • Goodhue County 5 permit applications were denied, 1 void and 61 pending.
  • LeSueur County  5 denied, 2 void, 18 pending.
  • Steele County     1 denied, 1 void, 23 pending.
  • Dakota County  70 denied, 8 void, 346 pending
  • Waseca County   1 denied,   8 pending
  • Dodge County      3 denied, 1 void, 24 pending
  • Wabasha County  0 denied, 18 pending
  • Olmsted County  43 denied, 1 appealed, 253 pending
  • Mower County       3 denied, 1 suspended, 10 pending.

Statewide sheriffs reported there were 103 permits suspended, 36 revoked, 968 voided and 1,191 denied in 2020.

A number of the denials were due to past suicide attempts or threats of suicide.

In Rice County a permit was denied because the applicant was a registered predatory offender. Another person had 13 driving revocations.

You can read the full report here.

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