MINNEAPOLIS -- A Hennepin County District Court judge has granted an Edina church's request to defy part of a new handgun law it claims is unconstitutional, according to a news report by Sun Newspapers.

In a temporary order June 6, Judge Marilyn Brown Rosenbaum ruled Edina Community Lutheran Church doesn't have to comply with the law's signage and personal notification requirements because they were unconstitutional. She denied a request, however, to allow the church to ban firearms from the its parking facilities, according to the news report.

The new "conceal carry" law requires an establishment, such as a church, that does not want people to carry firearms onto its property must prominently post a sign indicating so at every entrance. The law also says the establishment must personally inform people entering the premises of the posted request.

The church asked the courts to declare parts of the law unconstitutional after it went into effect on May 28.

"We're very pleased with the release she did grant us," said the Rev. Pamela Fickenscher, associate pastor of the church. "Obviously it did not give us all we asked for in the restraining order … but we think it's a real positive step in the right direction."

Since the lawsuit was filed, many other churches and "denominations representing several hundred congregations" have voted to join the lawsuit, the newspaper reported.

"Last week, all of the Catholic bishops voted to join the lawsuit and the statewide Methodist Conference did so also, and then the Minneapolis Area Synod of the Lutheran Church voted to join," said church attorney David Lillehaug. "So this small church in Edina is getting tremendous support."

Joseph Olson, a Hamline University law professor who helped draft the conceal carry legislation, spoke out against Rosenbaum's decision.

"She said the church doesn't have to comply with the posting and request provisions of the law on the basis of their religious beliefs," Olson said. "What [her decision] says is that a carefully drafted statute containing a number of compromises setting forth a clear legislative policy can be overturned at the drop of a hat. That doesn't sound like democracy to me.

"The bill was carefully drafted, negotiated with a number of groups who cared enough to show up and participate in the process, and that carefully negotiated process should not be changed," he said.