ST. PAUL – Surrounded by toddlers, badges and gun control advocates, a pair of lawmakers introduced legislation Thursday calling for universal background checks for all gun buyers.

Senate Judiciary Committee chair Sen. Ron Latz, D-St. Louis Park, and Rep. Dan Schoen, D-Cottage Grove, initially stressed what the bill would not do: It would not create a gun registry. It would not take away existing guns. It would not restrict the number of guns you could own, they said.

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Schoen compared the state's current gun laws to allowing people get into two lines at an airport-one with metal detectors, one without-and letting criminals pick which one they wanted to use.

"Which plane do you want to get on?" Schoen asked, adding that the large majority of point-of-sale background checks took 90 seconds.

The bill closes a loophole for gun buyers at gun shows and for sales online-which currently require no background check. It had some exceptions, such as exchanges between immediate family members and those relating to antiques.

If neither buyer nor seller is a federally licensed firearms dealer, they're required to jointly appear before one; that dealer is then required to conduct "all background check and record-keeping requirements."

However, the bill specifies that the dealer is not required to make a report of the transfer in such a situation.

Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus put out a news release contending that the bill would not create a gun registry.

When asked to elaborate, caucus political director Rob Doer said those undergoing background checks have to fill out a federal form, which must be kept on file by registered dealers. While acknowledging that such data was not linked or networked in any way, "the large concern with our members is there's a paper trail" that could be accessed by government officials down the line.

Several police chiefs, along with Ramsey County attorney John Choi, all spoke at a news conference in favor of the bill as essential for public safety.

Co-sponsor Schoen acknowledged during the conference that the bill likely faces an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled House-while also noting many rural Democrats are resistant to gun control laws-but he believes public opinion is overwhelmingly behind such a bill.

"Minnesotans actually believe this happens already," Schoen said. "They really do."

"I think there are a lot more legislators that will agree with us than will vote with us," Latz later added.

Immediately after the conference, Rep. Schoen headed to the committee in which he hoped to introduce the bill-the House's public safety committee, where he also holds a seat. As he entered the room, he exchanged glances with committee chair Tony Cornish, R-Vernon Center.

About an hour later, Cornish held a news conference in his office-past a door emblazoned with a poster of Clint Eastwood brandishing a pair of six-guns-railing against the bill.

He took particular displeasure in classifying gun-show sales without background checks as a "loophole," saying it was an intentional provision put in the law as a compromise between various interest groups.

"Democrats are doing what they do best-grab your guns ... They should've learned their lesson a few years ago when they had 16 gun bills that were defeated," Cornish said. As for public pressure, "it sure hasn't hurt me. ... This is a hunting and fishing state."

The bottom line: no hearing.

Cornish added he has seen no evidence pointing to a reduction in death or crime relating to such legislation that would warrant a hearing.

Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control group present at Thursday's rally, pointed to studies they themselves had conducted of FBI crime data comparing states that require universal background checks with those that do not for certain types of crimes, adjusting for population.

Research director Ted Alcorn said those studies, which accessed FBI supplementary crime data stored at the University of Michigan, showed 46 percent fewer women killed by "intimate partners" in states that had universal checks and a 48 percent decrease in law enforcement officer deaths by handguns.