Minnesota Bans Guns in All Courthouses Statewide Starting September 1

Every court facility in Minnesota will be off-limits to firearms and other weapons starting September 1, a sweeping statewide order that closes gaps in county buildings where courtrooms have long shared hallways with unrestricted municipal offices. The change applies to anyone entering a court-occupied area, including people who hold permits to carry, and it covers facilities used for the business of the Minnesota Supreme Court, the Minnesota Court of Appeals, and the state's district courts.

The order was signed by Chief Justice Natalie E. Hudson and detailed in a press release, according to FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul. In the release, Hudson said the Judicial Branch acted in response to what the Minnesota Judicial Branch described as growing threats to the safety and security of judges and court employees across the state. Court facilities will be permitted to screen anyone entering the newly designated court-occupied areas, and people who refuse that screening may be denied entry.

Closing the County Courthouse Loophole

The trickiest part of the new order involves county government buildings, where courtrooms often sit down the hall from unrelated municipal offices that have never been subject to weapons restrictions. Under the order, chief judges of individual judicial districts now have discretionary authority to expand the weapons prohibition beyond court-occupied rooms into additional parts of a building complex if doing so is necessary to protect court security, per the same account from the Minnesota Judicial Branch. That local flexibility is meant to let administrators tailor the ban to the physical layout of shared county facilities rather than applying a one-size-fits-all rule statewide.

Some exemptions remain built into the policy. Licensed peace officers and federally authorized law enforcement agents are exempt from the ban while carrying weapons during official duties, the release notes. Weapons introduced as evidence during a trial or an evidentiary hearing are also permitted, subject to advance-notice requirements and safety guidelines. Restrictions on weapons are not entirely new to Minnesota courts — the Minnesota Judicial Branch notes that select locations, including the Supreme Court courtroom at the State Capitol and the Minnesota Judicial Center, have barred weapons since 2003, more than two decades before this expansion.

A Chief Justice's Final Months in Office

Hudson signed the order in the final stretch of her tenure leading the state's judiciary. Governor Tim Walz announced in May 2026 that Minnesota Court of Appeals Judge Theodora Gaïtas will succeed Hudson as Chief Justice on October 1, 2026, according to the Minnesota Judicial Branch. The timing places one of the broadest court-security actions of Hudson's tenure just weeks before she hands the role to her successor.

Threats Against Officials Have Surged

The courthouse order arrives amid a documented rise in threats against Minnesota's elected and judicial officials. Threats against Minnesota elected officials more than doubled between 2024 and 2025, climbing from 19 incidents in 2024 to 50 by September 2025, according to Minnesota State Patrol data reported by MPR News. That trend echoes a case Hoodline has already covered: a federal jury in St. Paul convicted 73-year-old Wayzata resident Robert Phillip Ivers in August for threatening to murder a U.S. district judge and circulating a 236-page manifesto detailing plans to stalk and kill judicial officers, as detailed in Hoodline's coverage of his conviction.

The courthouse order also mirrors action taken earlier this year at the State Capitol. In January, Governor Walz issued an executive order requiring mandatory weapons and hazardous materials screening for anyone entering the Capitol during the 2026 legislative session, MPR News reported. Between the executive branch's Capitol screening rule and the judicial branch's new courthouse ban, Minnesota's government buildings are increasingly relying on administrative orders rather than new legislation to keep weapons out.

Why Courts, Not the Legislature, Made the Call

That reliance on administrative action reflects the fate of gun legislation in St. Paul this year. The Minnesota Senate passed a major gun violence prevention package in May that included bans on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, but the bill stalled in the House and failed to become law before the session adjourned, according to FOX 9. Minnesota Statute § 471.633 also preempts cities and counties from enacting their own municipal firearm regulations, leaving facility-specific rules almost entirely to state statutory changes or judicial administrative orders, per the Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes.

That preemption law is why Minneapolis's own push for tighter gun rules hit a wall earlier this year. The Minneapolis City Council passed a firearm regulation ordinance in May targeting assault-style weapons and ghost guns, but city officials acknowledged the measure is unenforceable unless the Legislature repeals the state's preemption statute, Hoodline reported at the time. Lawmakers did direct some money toward court security this year: Minnesota House File 4967, introduced in April, allocated $1,000,000 for a Safe and Secure Courthouse Initiative grant program, letting local governments seek state matching funds for courthouse security technology, equipment, and building modifications, according to the Revisor of Statutes.