Two Twin Cities churches take case against handgun law to court, again
Published 12:00 am Tuesday, August 23, 2005
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) &045; Two Twin Cities churches asked a Hennepin County judge to issue a temporary injunction against some of the requirements in Minnesota’s handgun law.
Attorneys for Edina Community Lutheran Church and Unity Church-Unitarian in St. Paul on Monday asked Judge LaJune Lange for an injunction against some of the law’s requirements as
they apply to religious institutions.
David Lillehaug, representing the Edina church, and Marshall Tanick, representing Unity, argued that requirements to put up signs using a specific size, typeface and language infringe on the churches’ religious messages. Such requirements make the state an editor over the churches’ message, Lillehaug argued.
The law allows people at least 21 years old with a clean record, no mental illness and proper training to get a permit to carry a gun.
A similar challenge was brought against the 2003 version of the law, but arguments about the religious questions still lingered when a Ramsey County judge ruled that the law was improperly passed by the Legislature. Hennepin Judge Marilyn Brown Rosenbaum ruled that the old law shouldn’t apply to religious institutions. A similar law was signed this year.
Assistant Attorney General Thomas Ragatz argued that the law mandates that the signs contain state language and also allows churches to add religious language. He said that using the state-mandated, religiously neutral words is not a substantial burden on churches and does not cause them irreparable harm &045; two legal standards the churches must prove in order to get the injunction.