1.1                          A bill for an act
  1.2             relating to crime; providing a mandatory minimum 
  1.3             sentence for certain persons who possess a firearm 
  1.4             with an altered or removed serial number or with no 
  1.5             serial number; amending Minnesota Statutes 1996, 
  1.6             section 609.11, subdivision 5.  
  1.7   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.8      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1996, section 609.11, 
  1.9   subdivision 5, is amended to read: 
  1.10     Subd. 5.  [FIREARM.] (a) Except as otherwise provided in 
  1.11  paragraph (b) or (c), any defendant convicted of an offense 
  1.12  listed in subdivision 9 in which the defendant or an accomplice, 
  1.13  at the time of the offense, had in possession or used, whether 
  1.14  by brandishing, displaying, threatening with, or otherwise 
  1.15  employing, a firearm, shall be committed to the commissioner of 
  1.16  corrections for not less than three years, nor more than the 
  1.17  maximum sentence provided by law.  Any defendant convicted of a 
  1.18  second or subsequent offense in which the defendant or an 
  1.19  accomplice, at the time of the offense, had in possession or 
  1.20  used a firearm shall be committed to the commissioner of 
  1.21  corrections for not less than five years, nor more than the 
  1.22  maximum sentence provided by law.  
  1.23     (b) Except as otherwise provided in paragraph (c), any 
  1.24  defendant convicted of violating section 609.165 or 624.713, 
  1.25  subdivision 1, clause (b), shall be committed to the 
  1.26  commissioner of corrections for not less than 18 months, nor 
  2.1   more than the maximum sentence provided by law.  Any defendant 
  2.2   convicted of a second or subsequent violation of either of these 
  2.3   sections shall be committed to the commissioner of corrections 
  2.4   for not less than five years, nor more than the maximum sentence 
  2.5   provided by law. 
  2.6      (c) Any defendant convicted of possessing a firearm in 
  2.7   violation of section 609.165 or 624.713, subdivision 1, clause 
  2.8   (b), shall be committed to the commissioner of corrections for 
  2.9   not less than eight years, nor more than the maximum sentence 
  2.10  provided by law, if the firearm possessed by the defendant is 
  2.11  not identified by a serial number or if the firearm's serial 
  2.12  number or other identification has been obliterated, removed, 
  2.13  changed, or altered. 
  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.