Representative Koppelman: City of Fargo "did not have the authority" to pass gun ordinance

(Fargo, ND) -- North Dakota State Representative Ben Koppelman is pushing a bill that would void a Fargo city ordinance regulating gun sales. 

"My belief as is the belief of our legislative council here that does our research is that Fargo did not have the authority to pass such a law for a local ordinance to ban that and they got a judge in Cass County to say that they kind of could do it the way they were through a technicality," said Koppelman. 

House Bill 1340 would prohibit any local municipalities from adopting any zoning ordinances relating to the sale or registration of firearms and ammunition sales. In 2001, the City of Fargo passed an ordinance which prohibits firearms dealers from conducting such transactions at home, even if the transactions take place at home offices of federally licensed firearms dealers. 

Fargo City Commissioner John Strand recently spoke against state lawmakers backing legislation that overrides local control.

"I just wish they'd leave us alone sometimes with these preemptions, these notions that the legislature and these people from all these rural little towns across the state can tell Fargo what they can or cannot do," said Strand.   
 

Original Air Date: 
Tuesday, January 31, 2023