NRA faces major test of clout in Minnesota

Article by: JIM RAGSDALE and BRANDON STAHL , Star Tribune staff writers
Updated: February 3, 2013 - 9:18 AM

... DFLers who took control of the Legislature in January are readying a slew of bills that would ban assault-style weapons, extend background checks to private sales and take other prevention measures ...

Nearly one in 10 Minnesotans has a firearms hunting license, nearly 120,000 hold a permit to carry weapons and the right to hunt is chiseled into the state Constitution.

"They have a very passionate constituency," said Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, who owes his start in politics to an NRA endorsement but who has not always followed NRA policy. The NRA is so popular outside of the Twin Cities that many rural DFL legislators covet the NRA's top rating along with their GOP opponents ...

Gun control supporters have their own strong constituency, and the NRA is not invincible. Minnesota's top three politicians -- Gov. Mark Dayton, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Al Franken -- are all F-rated by the NRA. Of the NRA-endorsed legislative candidates who ran in November, 22 lost, including 14 incumbents ...

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