The City Council finds that
potentially provide an opportunity for the commission of crimes and their concealment because such businesses have the ability to receive and transfer stolen property easily and quickly. The City Council also finds that consumer protection regulation is warranted in transactions involving
due in part to the much greater intrinsic value of this merchandise, its general lack of unique identifiers and its greater liquidity. Measures to prevent stolen property from being sold to
are necessitated by the fact that there are few government regulations applicable to this industry’s purchase of
from the public or to effectively and efficiently identify potential criminal activity related to these businesses. An automated system of tracking merchandise and purchasing transactions will decrease and stabilize the costs associated with the regulation of this industry, and will increase the identification of criminal activities in the precious metal business. Pursuant to its authority under the City Charter and under M.S. § 325F.742, as it may be amended from time to time, the City Council enacts this Division X of the city code regulating
. The purpose of this Division X is to prevent precious metal businesses from being used as facilities for commission of crimes and to assure that such businesses comply with basic consumer protection standards, thereby protecting the public health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of the city.
(Added by Ord. 93-23, passed 4-26-1993; recodified by Ord. 95-13, passed 8-7-1995; added by Ord. 97-18, passed 5-5-1997; amended by Ord. 2007-18, passed 5-7-2007)