Am I eligible to purchase a handgun or "military style assault weapon"? Minnesota?
I live in Minnesota, and am 18 years old. Ever since I was about 12 years old my uncle has taken me to a shooting range about once or twice a month to fire some of guns (primarily hand guns – m9, m1911, sig sauer, glock-19 and assault weapons – AR-15, AK47), its been one of my favorite things to do since then. I absolutely love firing these weapons at the gun ranges, its a hobby I’ve enjoyed for a long time. Now I’m 18 years old and I’m interested in purchasing an "assault weapon" for target shooting.
I’ve taken a firearms safety class.
However there are a few things I’m afraid will prevent me from being able to purchase a firearm…The two biggest are probably that I spent 35 days in a drug rehab clinic for heroin and benzodiazapine addiction, and I’ve been diagnosed with depression.
Will my time spent in rehab and depression diagnosis make it impossible to purchase a firearm?
Thank you in advance for your answers
Thanks for your answers
I chose to go to rehab (was sick of being dependent on a chemical to live) so no, I wasn’t admitted there under court order or anything
I’ve never been charged with a drug related offense of any kind.
thanks for the replies!
Posted in military firearms
July 28th, 2010 at 12:45 am
You are not eligible to buy a handgun or "assault style" weapon from an FFL dealer in Minnesota until you are 21. (State law.)
When you turn 21 years of age you must get a "permit to purchase" to buy either of them.
You can possess, and buy either from a private party if you are 18. (Federal law.)
For when you can buy these types of firearms from an FFL:
Since you have no convictions for drugs, and aren’t currently addicted, you’d be OK on a BATF form 4473.
Unless you were "committed" to a mental health institution or "adjudicated mentally defective," you are OK on BATF form 4473.
At 18 you CAN buy "less scary looking" guns from an FFL in Minnesota, such as most shotguns and "hunting" rifles.
July 28th, 2010 at 12:45 am
You will have to obtain a permit to purchase from your local police department. The problem is that many police departments use the same permit for purchasing handguns (must be 21) and they don’t realize that they must issue them for "semiautomatic military-style assault weapons" for those 18 and up. So you might run into trouble there.
Was your rehab court ordered or voluntary? Makes a difference. Read the application form for details – I have attached the link below.
The nice thing is, the permit to purchase doesn’t cost anything, so trot on down to the PD and get your application in and find out what they say. You should probably put a Post-it note on it that says you are applying for a permit to purchase "semiautomatic military-style assault weapons" and not a handgun.
July 28th, 2010 at 12:45 am
Being in drug rehab alone won’t prevent you from buying one, but if you were convicted of anything because of using heroin or any other drug that could. The depression won’t make any difference. Just don’t bring it up, it won’t prevent you from buying a gun, but it will slow things down because the guy will have to double check everything. On the ATF form 4473 you fill out when you purchase make sure you don’t lie about not having depression, just don’t bring it up if you don’t have to.
July 28th, 2010 at 12:45 am
You should be fine unless you were legally charged with a crime from narcotics.
July 28th, 2010 at 12:45 am
Unless you were admittied to an instituion (hospital, psychiatric ward, etc) for your depression, this will not impact your ability to purchase a fireare. However, Minnesota law forbids any one from owning a gun who has been instiutionalized for drug dependency unless they can provide satisfactory proof that they have no used or abused drugs for at least two years.
If you have used, especially if you have admitted use, in the past two years, you will have to wait until you can reasonably prove that you have not used or abused drugs for a period of 2 consecutive years. This will probably require an official doctor’s certificate
Please see https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=624.713 for all the laws that pertain to firearm possession requirements in the state of Minnesota
Also, here a s more "textual" version of Minnesota firearm laws that may be easier to read
http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/hrd/pubs/firearms.pdf
July 28th, 2010 at 12:45 am
So were you committed to a mental health institute unwillingly? If so then you are ineligible. Rehab is not the same thing. Have you been convicted of felony drug charges? If you have then you are ineligible.
Also you have your gun terms wrong. I’ll leave it to other people to correct you.