As of today, private gun sales will be subject to a criminal background check

CATHY WURZER: It is August 1. That means more new laws go into effect in Minnesota from legalizing cannabis to cracking down on catalytic converter thieves. There's a lot of new policies that kick in. We're going to check in with the very first place to sell cannabis in Minnesota, Red Lake Nation in just a few minutes.

But first, we want to start with changes to state gun laws. As of today, private sales and transfers of guns will be subject to a criminal background check. So how will that work? Joining us with more is Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges. Chief Hodges, welcome.

BOOKER HODGES: Thank you. Thank you for having me, Ms. Wurzer.

CATHY WURZER: Background checks were already required for gun sales at licensed dealers, but now it's also required for most private transfers of firearms. Is a private transfer just another term for buying a gun from a friend?

BOOKER HODGES: Yes. I mean, I think that some stuff can be a little bit more complex, but I think that's the easiest way to summarize it, a friend or an associate or someone who is just-- decides that they want to sell their guns.

CATHY WURZER: So how will that background check work?

BOOKER HODGES: That's a good question. I think some people are still trying to figure that out, and I don't have the answer for that at this time. But I can tell you how normal-- like how it was done in the past. So if you went to a gun shop to purchase a weapon, they would call into the FBI Center, and they would do a background check on you to qualify if you would-- to let somebody know if you were able to legally purchase a weapon.

In Minnesota, you also would have to go to your local police department or sheriff's office and get a permit to purchase, which would allow that law enforcement agency to do a background check to make sure that you were legally able to purchase a weapon. We have not been briefed yet, at least I haven't, on how that will work for private gun sales.

CATHY WURZER: So that remains to be seen. I understand as I've been reading this, it's a pretty extensive law, I should say, that's gone into effect. Friends and family can they hand over their firearms to someone for a weekend hunting trip, is that legal?

BOOKER HODGES: I think by most circumstances yes, unless that person is prohibited from having a weapon. So we're still trying to figure this out. I mean, a lot of these laws that were passed are written very extensively, to say the least, so we're still trying to digest a lot of what was written in the past.

CATHY WURZER: I understand. Anyone who wants to buy a pistol or a semi-automatic, military-style assault weapon has to apply for a permit to purchase or carry the weapon, is that right? What are some of the disqualifying factors that you run into?

BOOKER HODGES: Obviously, felony convictions or someone who has a history of violence. If you've been convicted of a felony, a lot of times that prohibits your ability to legally possess a firearm. So those are the type of things that legally prohibit people from possessing a firearm.

CATHY WURZER: So it sounds like you feel that this is going to be maybe depending upon some of the guidance that comes down. Will you do you think busier than you were before when it comes to some of the permits that you and some of the rules you'll have to deal with?

BOOKER HODGES: Yes. I don't-- like I said, we don't know how exactly that's going to work. But if it turns out where, say, you and I were to sell each other a weapon, right, and it's a private sale, do we go to our local police department to verify that each other is able to do that, or are we given a number that allows us to call in to the federal government that runs somebody's background check for us? We don't know that yet how that's going to work. If it works out the first way, like I said, where you go into your local police department, absolutely we're going to be busier for that.

CATHY WURZER: Do you think these new restrictions might make an impact on gun violence and gun deaths in Minnesota?

BOOKER HODGES: That's kind of a tough question to answer. I think that law enforcement our job is going to be to enforce whatever gun laws that are passed, but the impact on this I am not sure how that's going to impact. I do think that in terms of solving cases, this new background check will help with that.

And I think the public has to understand this, and I'm just going to give you a brief example. So for instance, say, there is a murder, and we were able to get the gun. The ATF tracks gun sales right now currently, so we could go back to the gun shop and say federal firearms dealer and say, who did you sell this gun to? We could at least get that first person.

But say they transferred it at a gun show or gave it to somebody and by the time we get down the line, we may not be able to find out who actually had that weapon. Whereas these background checks, I believe will allow us the opportunity to be able to better track weapons outside of the first point of sale, if that makes sense.

CATHY WURZER: I understand another change taking effect today as I read the bill is an increase penalty in owning or possessing or operating a machine gun. Penalties go up to about 20 years behind bars. How often do you run into something like this on the job? What kind of a law might-- what do you think of this particular portion of the law?

BOOKER HODGES: Well, unfortunately, we're running into it way more than we should. I mean, people are hearing about switches and those things that make these weapons fully automatic. And it's really unfortunate because those weapons are quite frankly made to kill large amounts of people very quickly.

And when someone possesses one of those, obviously, it's a danger to the public when they possess that illegally. So those penalties are fine, but the piece that is not in there, which a lot of us in law enforcement struggle with now to deal with, is what type of decisions are the prosecutors going to make when they're prosecuting these.

I mean, right now we already have it's illegal for a felon to be in possession of a firearm. And unfortunately, oftentimes, sometimes it's not-- that's not even prosecuted. So what is going to be the prosecutorial stance on prosecuting someone who is in possession of these weapons despite what these new laws that are passed, that's going to be the real test of how this works out

CATHY WURZER: Say, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask you how your Department is preparing to deal with the new recreational marijuana law, which goes into effect today, when it comes to traffic stops. What are you telling your officers?

BOOKER HODGES: Well, the Hennepin County Attorney's Office has recently provided training on that, so we're still trying to digest that. But basically, the legislature has decided that cannabis is legal. We as a police department, we've always arrested people who we caught driving under the influence of cannabis. But now it's a complete game changer in terms of how a lot of people have been taught to police.

Bloomington we've been fortunate like our K-9s are not trained to smell marijuana, so we don't have to retire canines like some departments who have dogs that are trained to smell marijuana. Those dogs have to now be retired. But we're going to go out here, we're going to do our job, but there's a lot of ambiguity in the law and how it's written and how it's going to be enforced. So I think-- what I've been telling people is we just have to wait and see how a lot of this is going to play out because none of us really knows.

CATHY WURZER: All right.

BOOKER HODGES: I wish I had a better answer for you.

CATHY WURZER: Well, I'm glad you joined us to talk about this. I appreciate your time, chief. Thank you so much.

BOOKER HODGES: Yeah. Thank you.

CATHY WURZER: Booker Hodges is the police chief in Bloomington.