Melvin Burns (6 December 1902 – 30 October 1983) was an American lawyer and politician.

A native of Larchwood, Iowa, born on 6 December 1902, Burns graduated from his hometown high school in 1921, then attended Morningside College for two years before transferring to the University of South Dakota. Burns was admitted to the South Dakota bar in 1928, having completed his legal studies at the University of South Dakota School of Law earlier that year. He subsequently relocated to California for two years to work within the trust department of the Los Angeles branch of the Bank of Italy. Burns moved his legal practice to Rock Rapids, Iowa, in 1932.^[1]

Burns served as Lyon County attorney from 1935 to 1936, and was elected to a single term on the Iowa House of Representatives between 13 January 1941 and 10 January 1943. He represented District 99 as a Republican. Burns later served a second stint as Lyon County attorney from 1945 to 1946. He died in a Luverne, Minnesota, hospital on 30 October 1983, aged 80.^[1]

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