BOOM!
Minnesota Gun Rights just won a temporary victory in Federal District Court, and it’s because of members like you!
Since session convened a few months ago, we’ve been working around the clock to crush a multi-pronged and non-stop attack on our gun rights from Tim Walz.
From a ban on the sale of AR-15s (HF-3433) to expanded ‘Red Flag’ laws (SF-4703) to magazine limits of ten rounds (HF-3402) — MGR has been fighting (and winning) on multiple fronts.
We’ve held the line for one reason: MGR’s ability to hammer the legislature with overwhelming pressure from gun owners.
If we couldn’t crank up the heat using direct mail, email updates, digital ads, and text alerts, Walz would have passed his gun control easily.
That’s why Walz changed the law, ramming a new disclosure law in place, trying to silence us!
This new law changed decades-old campaign disclosure laws here in Minnesota and tried to force us to surrender information on each of MGR’s vendors… so the Left could harass them and shut down our operations.
AND THAT’S WHY WE DRUG WALZ INTO FEDERAL DISTRICT COURT!
(Myself (far Left) and the MGR legal team outside the Federal Courthouse.)
It is clear to everyone that this law was designed to silence Minnesota Gun Rights. The Supreme Court has put limits on these disclosure laws since the 1960’s. The government can’t use these laws to target political opponents.
But that’s exactly what Tim Walz tried to do to us.
This new law demanded that we tell the state Campaign Finance and Disclosure Board how much we spend on things like:
— Facebook ads exposing gun grabbers
— Our email program that mobilizes gun owners
— Legal advice and analysis related to legislation
— MGR’s direct mail program, a powerful tool in our arsenal
That was just the beginning.
They also want the names and addresses of the owners of the companies we use for direct mail, for text alerts, for every different company that we interact with to inform you about what’s happening in St. Paul!
MGR’s legal team believes the entire statute is unconstitutional. But our lawsuit focuses on two key areas.
- COUNT ONE: we asserted that this statute (found in code section 10A.04) is a very clear 1st Amendment violation against MGR in the context of our grassroots lobbying operation. We contend this is protected free speech.Previous court cases (Dakotans for Health v. Barnett) have ruled that statutes compelling disclosure of information to the state are subject to ‘exacting scrutiny’ — a very high threshold. This forces the government to prove they have a sufficiently important interest in having this information.They have NOT done that in this law.
And while PACs who directly tell people who to vote for must give up a lot of information, grassroots organizations like MGR which simply urge the public to contact elected officials is absolutely considered protected speech.
- COUNT TWO: we maintained that the new disclosure law violated our 1st Amendment rights by forcing us to give confidential information about the vendors that we use.Remember, part of this statute forced MGR to give the names and even addresses of the vendors that we use to organize gun owners and put pressure on the legislature.Again, the state needs to show a very compelling legal interest to mandate this. They can’t. On the contrary, releasing this information will allow these vendors to be harassed online. They may drop us!
We contend that by enforcing this part of the law, the State, under the color of law, is depriving us of our right to freedom of speech in violation of the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.
After we filed this lawsuit, our lawyers immediately filed for a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO), asking the court to block the enforcement of this law pending trial.
It is very difficult to obtain a TRO.
To grant one, the judge needs to agree that:
>>> Our lawsuit is likely going to be successful.
>>> MGR would receive real harm if the law was enforced.
>>> Issuing the TRO is in the public interest.
As I watched our lawyers argue for the TRO during oral arguments, it seemed at times like Judge Nancy Brasel agreed with us. At other times, it seemed clear that she was not happy with Keith Ellison’s office.
To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect.
But I am thrilled to announce that Judge Brasel has granted Minnesota Gun Rights’ request for a Preliminary Injunction and Temporary Restraining Order — barring the State of Minnesota from enforcing this law against us!
This gives us time to prepare for court, without worrying that all of our vendors’ information will be exposed.
The State of Minnesota has a few options:
First, they can acknowledge their law is unconstitutional and change it legislatively here in St. Paul this year.
Second, they can make a deal to exempt Minnesota Gun Rights from this law going forward while leaving the law intact.
Third, they can go full throttle and press ahead with trial. After all, they are spending tax dollars to do this.
Based on everything we know right now, Minnesota Gun Rights and our legal team are preparing for an all-out battle in court over the merits of this case.
That means discovery and interrogatories. Depositions. Weeks of trial prep — and a long fight ahead.
Make no mistake, while this might sound like an innocuous fight over ‘disclosures’ and ‘vendor reports,’ it is not.
If Minnesota Gun Rights loses our ability to mobilize gun owners — if we can’t hammer on the DFL and weak Republicans when it counts — then Walz will destroy your gun rights.
We don’t have to speculate about this.
We fought to hold the line all session. Walz wants to take our AR-15s, he wants to limit us to only having 10 rounds in our magazines, he wants expanded ‘Red Flags’ and more.
His goal is to disarm law abiding gun owners, so only the government and the violent criminals who are roaming our cities have guns.
We’re standing in his way and we stopped him for 2026.
I’m proud as hell of that.
But we can’t let up. We need to see this legal battle through to the end, to make sure we can continue fighting for freedom.
So thank you for your support so far. We’re winning. But we need your sustained support to maintain this fight.
Please help CRUSH this lawsuit and the tyrants we’re suing by donating now!
Walz and the DFL are trying to destroy Minnesota.
Help us stop them and protect freedom for the next generation!
For Minnesota,
Ben Dorr
Executive Director
Minnesota Gun Rights
P.S. A federal judge in St Paul just granted MGR’s request for a Temporary Restraining Order as part of our federal lawsuit against Tim Walz’s new disclosure law!
This law is designed to muzzle us and make it easy for Walz to ram gun control into law.