Overview

• Ramsey County Judge Leonardo Castro invalidated only the binary-trigger prohibition and let the rest of the 2024 mega-bill stand, following state precedent on severability.
• Castro’s opinion sharply criticized the omnibus package as lacking a common theme and suggested higher courts could consider voiding the entire law.
• Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office said it will appeal and described binary triggers as devices that significantly increase a firearm’s rate of fire and lethality.
• The challenged provision was added in the final hours of the 2024 session to a sprawling tax-and-policy bill, which gun-rights advocates argued violated the constitution’s single-subject requirement.
• Legal analysts say the ruling revives enforcement of the single-subject clause and could prompt a wave of lawsuits targeting other provisions passed within the 1,400-page measure.