FAIRMONT– On Tuesday the Martin County Board of Commissioners set a public hearing on a proposed ordinance establishing a shotgun only zone. The potential ordinance change comes as, under a new Minnesota law, deer hunting with rifles will be allowed on property statewide beginning with the 2026 deer season. However, counties currently in shotgun zones can opt out of rifle hunting.

Eric Schettler, a conservation officer with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) was present to speak further on the matter and answer any questions.

“Since it was changed in the legislature, we can enforce that shotgun ordinance also. If you want to go outside the shotgun ordinance and want to go rifle, then that would be up to you guys but we would not be able to enforce that. That would be a sheriff’s department issue,” Schettler said.

He added that the ordinance can be opened up to include rifle, anything with a minimum of .22 cm caliber centerfire.

Schettler said he’s had many people come up to him to share their thoughts and he’s encouraged them to reach out to their commissioners.

“What I’ve been hearing out there from people is, there are deer hunters and non-deer hunters, and I haven’t personally heard any say they want to go rifle. They’re looking at a public safety aspect,” he said.

As of March 1, 2026, each county will need to make a decision on if it wants to allow rifles or stick with shotguns.

“It’s county-based so if Faribault County stays shotgun and we go rifle, they’ll just have to abide by the county line,” Schettler said.

Commissioner Richard Koons said that brought up a good point as the zone on the west side of Martin County goes a mile into Jackson County.

“If we stay shotgun and they go rifle, for that mile they can go rifle?” Koons asked.

“Yes,” Schettler said. “No different than if you go to Faribault County, it’s the same also. You have to abide by that line.”

Commissioner Joe Loghmiller pointed out that when the law goes into effect, people will need to know where the zone line and county line is. Schettler confirmed they would need to know the county lines but said the zone lines depend on if you can take a deer of either sex, a two or five deer limit or a lottery system. He said the hunters are already abiding by that.

“Now it’s adding one more caveat to it. You have to abide by the county lines,” Schettler said.

Loughmiller said the majority of the comments he’s received have been from hunters and that they’re concerned about safety based on what they’ve experienced.

“In Martin County, is this a safety concern?” he asked.

Schettler said he’s read that it’s not, but that he doesn’t know how that assessment was made.

“One hundred percent of the feedback I’ve gotten from the hunting public is safety and they would prefer we stay shotgun,” Loughmiller said.

Commissioner Jaime Bleess said that he has received more like a 50-50 response from the people who have reached out to him.

“A few of those were people that are so excited about the opportunity to shoot a family heirloom rifle. Some of the other commentary was if there are already AR platform pistols with essentially no restrictions, what’s the difference?” Bleess said.

Schettler said, “I agree with you, if you’re offering this platform here, why not just go rifle? I’ve never heard that about the heirloom but it’s very interesting. I think it’s possibly a small amount of people that would be thinking about that.”

Koons said that if he considered the people he has heard from in his district, about 70 percent of them have wanted to include rifle while the other 30 percent want to keep it the same.

Commissioner Kevin Kristenson chimed in that his area has been a 50-50 response as well.

“This is not a simple thing that the sate dumped on us,” Koons said. “Dumped it on us pretty ridiculously the way they did it.”

The board agreed that a public hearing would allow to hear from more members of the public. It set a public hearing time and date of 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026 regarding the matter.