Firearm Permits
The Renville County Sheriff’s Office offers two separate types of firearm permits:
Permit to Purchase
This permit is available from the Sheriff’s Office to residents of Bird Island, Franklin, Morton, Sacred Heart, and anyone else who lives outside of an incorporated city in Renville County.
If you live in any other city in Renville County, you must obtain this permit from your local police department.
Minnesota state law (Statute 624.714) establishes criteria for Permit to Purchase a Handgun/Transfer Ownership, Permit to Carry, and Renewal of Permit to Carry.
The firearms background investigation process involves a review of each application as it applies to state and federal criteria.
How to Apply:
- Download and fill out Permit to Purchase
- Submit it IN-PERSON to the Renville County Sheriff’s Office
- Monday – Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
- Printed applications are also available at the Sheriff’s Office.
A Permit to Purchase is issued at no cost and is valid for no more than one year.
Permit to Carry
This permit is issued exclusively by the Sheriff’s Office, regardless of where you live in Renville County. By statute, a Permit to Carry is not available through local police departments.
Minnesota State Statute 624.714, relating to the Minnesota Citizen’s Personal Protection Act, allows qualified individuals to obtain a permit to carry a pistol in the state. Minnesota state law (Statute 624.714) establishes criteria for Permit to Purchase a Handgun/Transfer Ownership, Permit to Carry, and Renewal of Permit to Carry.
The firearms background investigation process involves a review of each application as it applies to state and federal criteria. Current Permits to Carry are also monitored for compliance to state and federal law.
How to Apply:
- Download and fill out Permit to Carry
- Submit it IN-PERSON to the Renville County Sheriff’s Office
- Monday – Friday between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
- Printed applications are also available at the Sheriff’s Office.
There is a fee for Permits to Carry (see fee table below). Once issued, they remain valid for five years and “double” as a Permit to Purchase.
The Applicant must submit the following items with the application:
- A completed application form, signed and dated by the Applicant.
- Applicable fee (listed below).
- An accurate photocopy of a certificate, affidavit, or other document that is submitted as the Applicant’s evidence of training in the safe use of a pistol that meets the requirements of Minnesota Statute §624.714. (A statewide list of certified trainers may be found on the Minnesota BCA’s web site).
- An accurate photocopy of the Applicant’s current driver’s license, state identification card, or the photo page of the Applicant’s passport.
- In addition to the other application materials, a person who is otherwise ineligible for a permit due to a criminal conviction, but who has obtained a pardon or expungement setting aside the conviction, sealing the conviction, or otherwise restoring applicable rights, must submit a copy of the relevant order.
| Action | Fee | Requirements |
| New Application | $100.00 | Required of all new applications or renewal applications which have not been renewed within 30 days of the expiration date of the permit. |
| Renewal Application | $75.00 | May be made no earlier than 90 days prior to the expiration date on the permit. |
| Late Fee Renewal | $10.00 | Permit holder submits a renewal application after the expiration date of the permit but within 30 days after the expiration date. If more than 30 days past expiration, apply for a new gun permit. |
| Personal Data Change Address/Name Change | $10.00 | Should be submitted to the issuing Sheriff within 30 days. Applicant must fill out new application form. $10 fee is for issuing a new card with your corrected data. Applicants need only complete required personal data and sign where indicated. |
| Re-Issue Loss/Destruction | $10.00 | Must be submitted to the issuing Sheriff within 30 days. Applicant must fill out new application form. Applicants need only complete required personal data and sign where indicated. Must include a notarized statement that the permit card has been lost or destroyed. |
Learn about exclusion criteria for issuing and renewing firearms permits:
Exclusion Criteria for Firearms Permits
The Renville County Sheriff’s Office may deny the application if there is clear and convincing evidence that a substantial likelihood exists that the applicant is a danger to themselves or the public if authorized to carry a pistol under a permit.
Other Exclusions
The people listed below may be prohibited from possessing a pistol or firearm under state law:
- Persons charged with a crime of violence and placed in a pretrial diversion program
- Persons who flee from a state to avoid prosecution or testifying
- Persons who are “an unlawful user” of a controlled substance
- Persons who have been committed as mentally ill, mentally retarded, or mentally ill and dangerous
- Persons who have been found incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of mental illness
- Persons currently committed as chemically dependent
- Peace officers informally admitted to treatment facilities for chemical dependency
- Fugitives from justice
- Illegal aliens
- Persons dishonorably discharged from the armed forces
- Persons who have renounced U.S. citizenship
Person Charged with a Crime
A person charged with a crime that would prohibit them from carrying a firearm if convicted of that crime may not receive, ship, or transport a pistol or assault weapon until the Court issues final disposition of the charge.
Assault Crimes (non-domestic)
A person who is convicted of assault twice in three years may not possess a pistol for three years from the date of the second conviction.
Domestic Assault/Order for Protection Violation/Stalking/Harassment
A person convicted of domestic assault, an Order for Protection (OFP) violation, stalking, or harassment may not possess a pistol for three years from the date of conviction, under state law. A person with an active OFP (following a hearing) or who is subject to an active court order restraining them from harassing, stalking or threatening an intimate partner, their child, or a child of a partner, or from engaging in other conduct that would place an intimate partner in reasonable fear of bodily injury to the partner or child may not carry a firearm during the time the order is active. If the person used a firearm in committing the crime, the court may extend the restriction to any type of firearm for a period from three years to life. Under federal law, a person convicted of misdemeanor domestic assault may not possess a firearm unless a pardon has been granted or their right to possess a firearm has been restored.
Controlled Substance Crimes
A person convicted in Minnesota (or elsewhere) of a misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor controlled substance crime, or hospitalized or committed for controlled substance abuse, unless three years have elapsed since the date of conviction and, during that time, the person has not been convicted of any other controlled substance crimes or a similar laws of other states.
Specified Gross Misdemeanors
A person convicted of the following crimes as a gross misdemeanor is not entitled to possess a firearm for three years from the date of conviction:
- Crime committed for the benefit of a gang
- Assaults motivated by bias
- False imprisonment
- Neglect or endangerment of a child
- Burglary – 4th Degree
- Setting a spring gun
- Riot
- Harassment
- Stalking
Felony Conviction
A person convicted of a felony level crime is ineligible for a permit to carry a pistol until the person’s civil rights are restored. The time period may be longer for persons expressly prohibited from possessing firearms, a condition of a pardon, expungement, or restoration of civil rights. Certain anti-trust and other business practice violations are excluded.
Crimes of Violence
The following crimes are defined by law as “Crimes of Violence”. Persons convicted of felony-level offenses for these crimes (or an attempt to commit them) are ineligible for permits to carry a pistol (or to possess any firearm) for the duration of their lifetime unless those rights are specially restored. Conviction for a similar crime in another state also applies.
- Murder
- Manslaughter
- Aiding suicide or attempted suicide
- Assault (1st – 4th Degrees)
- Crimes committed for the benefit of a gang
- Use of drugs to injure or to facilitate crime
- Simple or aggravated robbery
- Kidnapping
- False imprisonment
- Criminal sexual conduct (1st – 4th Degrees)
- Malicious punishment of a child
- Neglect or endangerment of a child
- Commission of a crime while wearing or possessing a bullet-resistant vest
- Firearm theft
- Unauthorized use of a motor vehicle
- Theft/looting
- Theft of a controlled substance, an explosive, or an incendiary device
- Arson (1st – 2nd Degrees)
- Burglary (1st – 3rd Degrees)
- Drive-by shooting
- Unlawfully owning, possessing, or operating a machine gun or short barreled shotgun
- Riot
- Terrorist threats
- Harassment and stalking
- Shooting at a public transit vehicle or facility
- Violations of the controlled substance laws