Turns out I had some extra time so here is what I've found out so far...
I went to Penn Lake, Hopkins, Edina, Eden Prairie, and Southdale libraries. All are Hennepin County Libraries. And all are now posted. Eden Prairie had been unposted for months, even after I first saw postings at Edina. It seems the county has been busy.
Southdale is the only one that is next to a court building. It was also the only one that had the "Hennepin County Courts ban dangerous weapons..." wording. The others didn't mention the courts being involved, though they all started the sign with the Hennepin County logo. The signs were identical except for this mention of the courts.
I went into the Southdale library and asked if I could get into the neighboring court building from the library, without having to go outside. I was told "no, you have to go outside".
I also spoke with a former long time employee of that library who said to the best of their recolection there was no connecting passage between the two buildings.
I went into the Edina Library and had the following conversations.
BAB: Hi, I’ve been meaning to ask this for a while… I keep coming in and noticing the sign out front, about ‘dangerous weapons”, I’m just wondering what that means?
Clerk: Well it was something that the state of Minnesota passed. You’ll see it on other places, like Banana Republic has one, on 50th and France
(note: they are a private business, their posting is compliant and addresses guns, not "dangerous weapons"). I don’t know that I can fully explain it. The librarians might be able to explain it better. If you walk into Mall of America they have a sign like that too. Once you start noticing one you’ll start noticing a lot. But the librarians might actually have a better explanation for that, they might actually have the ordinance or whatever.
BAB: OK, thanks.
(BAB walks over to the Librarians desk)
BAB: Hi, I’m just curious, I’ve been meaning to ask for a while.. the sign by the door about dangerous weapons, I’m just wondering what the meaning of that is, or what the definition ….
Librarian: The county has done that for all public buildings in the county, it’s just a standard sign.
BAB: So what constitutes a dangerous weapon.
Librarian: Guns, knives.
BAB: OK, so… don’t arrest me but… I’m curious, I mean (pulls out keychain, opens its 1.8” knife blade), that’s a knife right?
Librarian: No, nothing like that. Switchblades and big knives that you could walk in with.
BAB: So how big does the knife have to be?
Librarian: Well, I’m not sure. Probably 6 inches, you know…
BAB: Is there a written policy somewhere, that I could find out?
Librarian: (asking Librarian2 ) Is there a written policy on the banning of dangerous weapons? He wants to know how long a knife would have to be..
BAB: I’m just curious in general about the definition of it. I mean If I were in here working with scissors or something on a project…
Librarian: No, scissors are fine, we’ve got scissors all over the building.
Librarian2: Someone has brought this up before, they thought it was pretty funny, I mean… name a weapon that isn’t dangerous (laughs).
BAB: It does seem a little redundant.
Librarian2: The county attorneys office is the one that came up with that. So maybe they’re the people you should talk to.
Librarian: Ya, I’d give them a call.
BAB: So there is no one in the library administration to talk to, that would know…?
Librarian: They’d refer you to the county.
BAB: OK, so County Attorney’s office…?
Librarian: Yup, cuz it’s a county policy.
BAB: OK. Thank you.
The above conversation illustrates some of the reasons these signs bother me. People think they are a state law
that ban guns
making it that much more likely for someone to panic in some way if they should notice a legal permit holder carrying
Lets see what the County Attorney has to say. Stay tuned.