Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus sues state over binary trigger law

The Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus (MGOC) has filed a lawsuit against multiple Minnesota leaders over what they claim is an unconstitutional law banning ownership of binary triggers.

The lawsuit was filed by the Upper Midwest Law Center (UMLC) on behalf of MGOC against Gov. Tim Walz, Attorney General Keith Ellison, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty and Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension Superintendent Drew Evans.

MGOC argues an omnibus bill passed into law last session is unconstitutional and violates the Single Subject and Title Clause, which states, “No law shall embrace more than one subject, which shall be expressed in its title.”

Their main argument in the lawsuit, according to the press release from MGOC, is the law change that made owning a binary trigger a felony had nothing to do with the omnibus bill’s subject, which was “the operation and financing of state government.”

“This Frankenstein’s monster of an omnibus bill is the exact kind of fraud on the people of Minnesota that the Constitution aims to prevent, and that’s why it is critical we hold lawmakers accountable with this lawsuit,” said James Dickey, senior counsel at UMLC. “This is a clear violation of the single-subject provision of the constitution. The Court should strike the whole thing.”

The ban on binary trigger ownership was enacted at the beginning of 2025, which made owning the trigger a similar penalty to owning a machine gun in Minnesota, which is up to 20 years in prison and up to a $35,000 fine. Owners of a binary trigger can be charged even if the device is not installed onto a firearm.

Binary triggers do not make guns fully automatic; they work by allowing gun owners to fire two bullets with a single trigger pull. One is fired during the initial pull, and another is fired after the trigger is released.