I get that the powers that be in Minnesota are pretty anti-gun. Despite that, there doesn't seem to be as much of a taste for gun control in the state as they might like, which is a very good thing.
However, it's clear they're going to keep trying to throw anything to the wall they can and see what sticks.
The latest is a "ghost gun" bill. It's backed by Attorney General Keith Ellison because, of course, it is. However, as the attorney general, he can't introduce legislation directly. He needs a lackey or something to do it for him, and he picked a doozy this time.
And frankly, the man needs a history lesson.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Senator Ron Latz, and Representative Dave Pinto announced a bill Monday that would close the loophole that allows ghost guns to be created and sold.
...
The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled ghost guns can be legal in a case in August 2025 as federal law doesn't mandate serial numbers for certain firearms. In response to the legal loophole, Latz stated at the time his intention to introduce legislation.
"No one could’ve foreseen a world where you could print the parts to make a gun at home, but that’s the world we live in today,” Latz said. “This decision makes it clear that our state gun laws need to reflect this new reality and the increasing prevalence of ghost guns.”
Just...wow.
Now, it might be fair to say that the Founding Fathers might not have envisioned a device that essentially poops out things such as key components to firearms, but beyond that, Latz's comments betray a terrible understanding of history, especially regarding guns.
3D printers are a technology that's not quite what any of us saw coming when I was a kid. However, the Founding Fathers lived in an era when people routinely built their own guns. They'd get a lot of parts from a seller, then go to their own workshops and turn them into a firearm. Who knows how many of those are in museums or are cherished parts of private collections now, but they started out as a farmer needing a gun and him building it himself. It's not all that different from what builders do today.
The technology may have changed, but the tradition has not.
I mean, if I can type what I want on the internet and be protected by the First Amendment, then clearly the technology is irrelevant. The First Amendment may have been written with the printing press and quill pens in mind, but its protections have applied to every technological advance since then, from typewriters to digital speech.
Plus, let's keep in mind that so-called ghost guns are already prohibited in a number of states. I also come across reports daily about people having them. What's more, there's no link between increased instances of these firearms and an increase in criminal activity. In fact, a study that tried to link them to suicides was forced to acknowledge that there was no corresponding increase in "ghost gun" recoveries and homicides.
That's because while criminals might opt for a privately made firearm for their criminal needs, there are more than enough stolen guns on the market to meet the demand, and if they don't have a "ghost gun," they're not that picky.
So the bill itself is stupid.
It's just not as stupid as Latz's gross misunderstanding of history.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
Help us continue to report on and expose the Democrats’ gun control policies and schemes. Join Bearing Arms VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your VIP membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member