For Immediate Release
NEW LAWSUIT SEEKS TO OVERTURN ENTIRE CONCEAL-CARRY LAW
Date: October 7, 2003
Contact: Kelly Griffith, Marketing Manager, 612-492-7514
Email: kgriffith@fredlaw.com
St. Paul, MN, October 7, 2003 - 23 congregations, 3 denominations, and a community of women religious have filed suit in Ramsey County District Court to have the entire conceal-carry law declared unconstitutional.
Their complaint alleges that the law, passed on April 28, violates the Minnesota Constitution's requirement that a law include only one subject. The Minnesota House grafted conceal-carry onto a Minnesota Senate natural resources bill that dealt with snowmobiles, littering, and fish houses. Once conceal-carry was added, the Minnesota Senate did not have a chance to offer amendments.
The lawsuit also contends that the law violates the constitutional protections of religious freedom, freedom of speech and association, and property rights. The case has been assigned to District Court Judge John Finley.
Sister Susan Oeffling of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet commented: "The way the conceal-carry law was drafted, passed and signed raises many questions. The Sisters and other religious organizations have a constitutional right to ban weapons from our properties and to communicate that ban in ways appropriate to our beliefs. This law has a profound impact on our freedoms."
Besides the Sisters, the lawsuit includes Jewish, Unitarian, UCC, Lutheran, Episcopal, and Catholic congregations, as well as Eckankar, a national denomination, and the Minnesota conferences of the Methodist and UCC denominations.
All bishops of the Minnesota Catholic Conference have expressed support for the lawsuit and a Catholic parish from each diocese is expected to become a co-plaintiff. Legal challenges to the conceal-carry law have been endorsed by six Minnesota bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and by the Episcopal Diocesan Council. The Episcopal Bishop is himself a plaintiff in a pre-existing lawsuit in Hennepin County.
On June 6, the District Court in Hennepin County issued an injunction against the signage and personal notification provisions of the law. Portions of the case are on appeal to the Minnesota Court of Appeals. Oral argument is scheduled for Tuesday, October 28, 2003, at 10:30 p.m., at the Minnesota Judicial Center.
Copies of the new Ramsey County lawsuit may be obtained from Fredrikson & Byron spokesperson Clare Scott, 612-492-7063. David Lillehaug of Fredrikson & Byron represent the co-plaintiffs. Marshall Tanick and Shawn Pearson of Mansfield Tanick & Cohen represent two Unitarian congregations.