1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to crime; increasing minimum sentences for 
  1.3             certain firearms offenses; amending Minnesota Statutes 
  1.4             1996, section 609.11, subdivision 5. 
  1.5   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.6      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 609.11, 
  1.7   subdivision 5, is amended to read: 
  1.8      Subd. 5.  [FIREARM.] (a) Except as otherwise provided in 
  1.9   paragraph (b) or (c), any defendant convicted of an offense 
  1.10  listed in subdivision 9 in which the defendant or an accomplice, 
  1.11  at the time of the offense, had in possession or used, whether 
  1.12  by brandishing, displaying, threatening with, or otherwise 
  1.13  employing, a firearm, shall be committed to the commissioner of 
  1.14  corrections for not less than three years, nor more than the 
  1.15  maximum sentence provided by law.  Any defendant convicted of a 
  1.16  second or subsequent offense in which the defendant or an 
  1.17  accomplice, at the time of the offense, had in possession or 
  1.18  used a firearm shall be committed to the commissioner of 
  1.19  corrections for not less than five years, nor more than the 
  1.20  maximum sentence provided by law.  
  1.21     (b) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (c), any 
  1.22  defendant convicted of violating section 609.165 or 624.713, 
  1.23  subdivision 1, clause (b), shall be committed to the 
  1.24  commissioner of corrections for not less than 18 months, nor 
  1.25  more than the maximum sentence provided by law.  
  2.1      (c) Any defendant convicted of a second or subsequent 
  2.2   violation of either of these sections violating section 609.165 
  2.3   or 624.713, subdivision 1, clause (b), shall be committed to the 
  2.4   commissioner of corrections for not less than five years, nor 
  2.5   more than the maximum sentence provided by law if: 
  2.6      (1) the defendant has one or more previous convictions for 
  2.7   violating either of these sections; or 
  2.8      (2) the predicate crime of violence underlying the 
  2.9   defendant's violation of either of these sections:  (i) was 
  2.10  committed within the ten-year period preceding the current 
  2.11  violation; and (ii) was a felony listed in section 624.712, 
  2.12  subdivision 5, other than theft, that the defendant committed 
  2.13  while possessing or using a firearm or other dangerous weapon. 
  2.14     Sec. 2.  [EFFECTIVE DATE.] 
  2.15     Section 1 is effective August 1, 1998, and applies to 
  2.16  crimes committed on or after that date.