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ST. PAUL 鈥� Minnesota legislators have caught themselves in a gun control debate loop, with both sides of the aisle submitting and rejecting legislation related to firearms this session. However, with the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party holding the Senate, House and governorship, the party does not need Republican sign-on to pass legislation.

While Republicans recently requested harsher sentences related to straw purchases, the DFL has spent this session, and the one prior, enacting legislation that seeks to set limits on gun ownership, including universal background checks and "red flag" laws.

The differences between Minnesota's two major legislative parties spilled out onto the Senate floor last week with an impassioned plea from Sen. Julia Coleman, R-Waconia, to vote on her bill to toughen the laws surrounding straw purchases.

Coleman's comments came in the wake of to a man who is accused of killing two Burnsville police officers and one medic last month. Coleman moved for her bill, , to be brought to the Senate floor for a vote.

"This motion is urgent because I can't imagine what the woman who purchased those firearms illegally for the man who gunned down those first responders would have thought if she had known that prosecutors in Minnesota were actually going to come after her," Coleman said on the Senate floor.

Former Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said in 2015 .

Coleman's bill would make a straw purchase, currently a gross misdemeanor, a felony.

Her request was rejected by DFLers, as was another Republican request to open up some of last year's $300 million in new public safety funding for police to buy armored vehicles.

While the DFL rebuffed Coleman's bill, which was introduced last year and passed through one committee hearing, an was introduced by Sen. Heather Gustafson, DFL-Vadnais Heights, on March 21. Gustafson's bill has yet to be heard in committee.

"This is an abuse of power," "They are holding up the ability to do something today to play political games, and three men are dead because we didn't pass this bill last year."

It is no certainty that either Republican request on the Senate floor last week would have prevented February's tragic incident in Burnsville. Research shows that and the . An armored vehicle was on the scene, according to police.

Republican anger over the issue has also led to one representative storming out of a committee hearing during a heated debate. The legislator, Rep. Walter Hudson, R-Albertville, did not return to the hearing after chastizing fellow lawmakers over their funding priorities and 鈥渁ttitude.鈥�

鈥淧eople are getting shot at,鈥� Hudson said during the hearing. 鈥淭he people who we entrust to protect us, to stand between us and bad actors, are getting shot at 鈥� crying over the radio asking for help. And the answer of this body is: 鈥楴o. And by the way, be grateful that we allowed you to have money for other things.鈥� That鈥檚 what I鈥檓 hearing today. I know I was supposed to talk about the amendment to the bill, but religious liberty is under attack, vaccinations are being forced, and now this.鈥�

Police are still able to obtain armored vehicles, along with other military equipment, .

Included in the gun control bills this session is a DFL bill that would block the sale and transfer of 17 different types of firearms in Minnesota , including the Colt AR-15, the widely known civilian version of the U.S. military's main service rifle. The bill would also ban the sale and transfer of semiautomatic weapons with a detachable magazine and different modifications such as a folding stock or a pistol grip. The bills would not ban the possession of weapons already owned and propose a buy-back program for those weapons.

One of the bill's authors, Sen. Jennifer McEwen, said last month that she and other legislators have received threats because of their gun control legislation.

Contributed / Minnesota Legislature

"I don't know that people understand how scary that can be for legislators," she said. "When (people) are seeing that there's not action happening (on gun control) either at the state level or national level 鈥� that's a big part of it, that intimidation factor."

The only other issue for which legislators receive the same type of reaction is abortion-related bills, according to McEwen.

While the current gun-related bills are a product of years of gun-control advocacy, there are opponents, such as the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, that say the bills are unconstitutional and poorly worded.

"The bill seeks to end the ownership of modern rifles within a generation," said Rob Doar, senior vice president of the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus.

In addition to McEwen's bill, DFLers have proposed to ban large-capacity magazines, .50-caliber weapons and undetectable firearms. They also seek to .

Those measures have been largely dismissed by Republicans who have opted to focus on the punishment for straw purchases.

"What we did last year with universal background checks and 'red flag' law will not help anything," . "The straw purchases, on the other hand, will help the state of Minnesota to hopefully prevent deaths. That's really what we're talking about, it is keeping guns out of bad people's hands and keeping guns in good people's hands at the same time."

Some Republicans, like Sen. Jason Rarick, R-Pine City, say they understand their opponents' view, that gun storage laws are an attempt to keep children safe, but they reject it. They believe there are better routes to achieve gun safety.

"My opinion is educating the kids and actually sitting down with them, letting them handle the gun while you're there supervising, takes away that curiosity," he said . "The storage piece, especially if you want to keep the ammunition separate from the gun itself, that's taking away the very idea of being able to protect your family within your own home. A perpetrator could be coming in, and that will do you no good."