I just noticed this on the Heritage Ebay posting: "Due to the new Minnesota Bullion Coin Dealer law, Heritage is prohibited from selling any coins directly to Minnesota residents." Is this something new? Fortunately, I don't live in Minnesota.
This has been discussed here in the past. I still don't understand how Minnesota can enact and enforce laws governing citizens and businesses having no physical presence in Minnesota. I also think that this law is in violation of the Commerce Clause (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the U.S. Constitution) reserving the regulation of interstate commerce to the Federal Government.
I'm guessing this law will go down with the first court challenge. I wouldn't expect it to pass in any other state, because it is stupid. But, that hasn't stopped laws in the past....
The law is at least two years old now. I haven't heard of a court challenge yet. It might just be less costly to not do business in Minnesota.
That's my feel for the situation; the only real losers under this law are Minnesota precious metals (including coins) fans. Business just wrote Minnesota off and moved on. A few of the larger went to the trouble of certifying but the market has basically left the state to the side of the road.
This is so sad to here. It looks like the Feds are getting closer and closer to regulating the internet. We must not allow this to happen in our home states.
Enacting them is easy, they can pass any laws they want. Enforcing them is a different matter. They can try, but if anyone actually stands up to them the laws would get shot down. Problem is for most businesses it is just easier to stop dealing there. They probably don't feel there is enough business for them there to be worth going through the legal troubles to overturn the law. If a law like this had been passed in a larger, major market, I think it would have been challenged by now.
