Former Minnesota Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Warren Spannaus, known for pushing Minnesota's landmark gun-control law and his longtime friendship and professional partnership with former Vice President Walter F. Mondale, died suddenly Monday. He was 86.

Spannaus was elected attorney general in 1970 and re-elected twice, serving from 1971 to 1983. He ran for governor in 1982, received the DFL Party endorsement, but lost to eventual winner, the late Gov. Rudy Perpich.

In 1975, Spannaus pushed the state's landmark gun law requiring waiting periods and background checks. Gun-control opponents made him a target, circulating pictures of his face behind a bull's-eye. They created bumper stickers with the with the slogan "Dump Spannaus" when he ran for governor.

"They didn't forget him," Mondale said Monday of his friend and DFL ally of more than 50 years. "He accepted that."

After losing the gubernatorial race, Spannaus never held elected office again. In an interview with the Star Tribune in 2013, Spannaus said of his gun-control advocacy, "I never regretted that."

Spannaus said his law applied only to handguns and he was falsely accused of restricting rifles and shotguns. In the interview, Spannaus said the NRA continued to misrepresent the issue and "bully the people in Congress."