MONTANA SHOOTING SPORTS ASSOCIATION
2011 LEGISLATIVE ISSUES
2010 LEGISLATIVE CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE
(This Questionnaire downloadable in MSWord, .doc format)
(This Questionnaire downloadable in Portable Document Format, .pdf format)
Please check the response that best describes your position on each issue.
1. Sheriffs First - Law Enforcement Cooperation.
Many Montanans, both citizens and people in public office, are
concerned about the lack of accountability of federal officers
conducting law enforcement operations in Montana. In Montana, we
know the county sheriff and he is elected and accountable
locally. We believe the sheriff is the chief law enforcement
officer in the county, and ought to have the tools to implement that
status. MSSA will offer a bill to require federal officers to
obtain the written permission of the local sheriff before conducting an
arrest, search, or seizure in the sheriff’s county. There are
exceptions for federal reservations, Border Patrol, Immigration and
Naturalization Service, close pursuit, when a federal officer witnesses
a crime that requires an immediate response, if the sheriff or his
personnel are under investigation, and other necessary
exceptions. This bill was passed by the Legislature in 1995, but
was vetoed by the Governor. You may read the bill at:
http://www.SheriffsFirst.net
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
2. Smokeless powder and primer production.
There is a serious threat to our right to bear arms because of narrow,
monolithic and federally-controlled manufacture of essential ammunition
components, smokeless powder (propellant), primers and cartridge
brass. For example, there are only two manufacturers of smokeless
powder in the U.S., plants owned by defense contractors General
Dynamics and Alliant Technosystems
(ATK). All other smokeless powder used in the U.S. is imported,
and subject to immediate and arbitrary import restrictions. And,
General Dynamics and Alliant Systems are subject to a standard
condition of military contracts that 100% of their production may be
commandeered for military use at any time. Without ammunition,
our firearms and our right to bear ammunition are worth nothing.
We propose certain incentives to encourage small-scale production of
ammunition components in Montana. That model includes offering
liability protection to future producers, providing that such producers
qualify for existing state assistance with financing, and will include
a 20-year tax amnesty from start of business, which would give up ZERO
current revenue to the state but could provide jobs for Montana.
https://progunleaders.org/lcq2010/powder.html
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
3. Harmonizing concealed weapon permit (CWP) requirements.
Since 1991, a CWP has not been required for a law-abiding person to
carry a concealed weapon in 99.4% of Montana - outside the limits of
cities or towns. With over a decade of experience that not
requiring CWPs for nearly all of Montana has not created any problems,
we propose legislation to harmonize the law so a permit will no longer
be required for a law abiding person to carry a concealed weapon in the
remaining small part of Montana, inside cities and towns. We
intend to leave the permitting process in place, so citizens who desire
them may still obtain CWPs for travel to other states that recognize
Montana CWPs, and for firearm purchases at gun stores under the federal
Brady Law. This change would require a person to be eligible to
apply for a CWP in order to carry concealed, thus no youth (under 18),
no criminals, and with firearms safety still required.
https://progunleaders.org/lcq2010/permitless.html
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
4. Prohibited places.
Montana has long been plagued with a nonsensical "prohibited places"
law. 45-8-328 is a list of places where a person may not exercise a
CWP. What is nonsensical about this is that the safest people in
Montana with firearms are those sheriff-certified people who have been
issued a Montana CWP. While these people are prohibited from
exercising their CWP in the prohibited places, people not trained and
not checked out by the sheriff may legally carry openly in these same
places. Even CWP holders may carry openly, legally, in these same
places. Even law enforcement personnel are not exempted from
prohibited places. When a law enforcement officer enters the
county courthouse or city hall with a coat covering his or her firearm,
he or she commits a crime in Montana, a gun crime that would end their
law enforcement career if he or she were prosecuted. The only
reason LEOs are not being prosecuted under this badly-written statute
is because police and prosecutors engage in selective
enforcement. Our proposal would exempt sheriff-certified
CWP-holders and LEO's from the effects of this badly-conceived law.
https://progunleaders.org/lcq2010/prohibited/html
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
5. Firearms in vehicles in parking lots.
Many Montana citizens must travel to work to and from places where
danger of attack exists, and where police cannot and will not protect
them. Yet they are prevented from being able to protect
themselves by employers who make it a firing offense to have a firearm
in the employee's vehicle in the company-provided parking lot. A
typical example might be a nurse who gets off shift late at night and
must travel through a bad part of town or along deserted country roads
to get home to a dark and unsecured house. The employer will not
accompany this nurse to make sure she arrives home safely.
However, the employer may also terminate the nurse if she is found to
have a self-defense firearm in her vehicle in the company parking lot,
a firearm with which the nurse could protect herself going home from
work. It is radically unfair for employers to effectively require
unprotected employees to be fair game for any criminal attack during to
and from work travel. Employers are held responsible for
reasonable workplace safety. Why should employers be allowed to
insist on employee risk going to and from work? Our proposal
would prohibit employers from firing employees because they have a
self-defense firearm in a private vehicle in the company-provided
parking lot. Caution: Institutional employers in Montana
will probably oppose this measure claiming that they can only ensure
workplace safety if they are allowed to fire employees with firearms in
their cars. However, we know that someone bent on workplace
mayhem will not be concerned about job security or company
policy. And, if this thinking were common, we wouldn't have the
right to bear arms in the Montana Constitution. Remember, it was
a firearm in the workplace parking lot that prevented a multiple-victim
massacre at the Glasgow, Montana hospital not long ago.
https://progunleaders.org/lcq2010/parking.html
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
6. Deprivation of constitutional rights - official oppression.
A number of states have state laws that call it "official oppression"
when government employees, acting as if they have the authority of law,
deprive people of essential constitutional rights. Official
oppression happened following Hurricane Katrina when police were
ordered to go door to door to disarm otherwise unprotected
citizens. We propose a measure to make it a crime in Montana for
a public employee to exceed his authority to deprive a Montana citizen
of constitutional rights. This bill would also set up a simple
procedure whereby such an employee may be held accountable in a civil
action, in case the public prosecutor refuses to file criminal charges.
https://progunleaders.org/lcq2010/oppression.html
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
7. Wolf diseases - monitoring, legality.
Evidence is emerging that wolves carry, spread and propagate diseases
that infect people and livestock. Some of these diseases are
potentially life threatening to people. Montana may have a large
public health issue looming because of diseases spread by wolves.
We propose a bill to require DPHHS to identify and monitor people in
high risk categories for wolf-born diseases, with mandatory reporting of all epidemiological findings so the
public will be advised of and may assess the level of risk.
https://progunleaders.org/lcq2010/diseases.html
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
8. Shooting range funding.
Montana began using some hunter license money to make matching grants
to develop shooting ranges in 1989. The program to build safe and
suitable places for Montana people to shoot was put into state law in
1999, as the Shooting Range Development Program (SRDP). The funds
for this program are approved each legislative session in the
appropriations process for the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks
budget. There are no general tax revenues
used for this program, only money hunters pay for licenses. The
2007 Legislature appropriated $1,000,000 for the SRDP. $600,000
was appropriated in 2009.
About application of SRDP funds by FWP, Montana law at 87-1-279, MCA,
says: "Program rules. (3) The department shall make every effort to
expend or obligate funds for shooting range improvement grants within
the year for which they are appropriated."
We ask that $1,000,000 be appropriated to the SRDP again in the 2011
legislative session, regardless of any FWP opposition to that level of
funding.
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
9. Self defense legal costs.
A few prosecutors use the tactic of "throwing the book" at persons
accused in order to make legal defense costs so unaffordable that the
accused has no choice but to plead guilty to some prosecutor-approved
charges. We propose that, in cases where self defense is alleged,
prosecutors must pay the legal defense costs associated with any
charges that are dropped, dismissed, or for which the accused is found
not guilty.
https://progunleaders.org/lcq2010/costs.html
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
10. Born in Montana to hunt.
Montana has the highest percentage of its population purchasing hunting
licenses of any state. We have a strong hunting culture in
Montana. Some of our children who grew up in our Montana hunting
culture have found it necessary to leave Montana for school, work, or
other reasons. Some other states allow anyone born in the state
to return home and hunt at the same cost as residents. We propose
that anyone born in Montana be allowed to purchase a resident hunting
license.
https://progunleaders.org/lcq2010/born.html
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
11. Prohibiting FWP from regulating ammunition.
The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) has earned a
reputation for thinking of itself as an 800-pound gorilla. FWP
assumes it has authority to do anything the Legislature has not very
specifically forbidden under the very general authority of managing
wildlife. Recently, FWP presumed to propose a regulation to ban
the use of lead shot for bird hunting over thousands of acres of
Montana, with no scientific basis offered for the proposal. This
ban could well become only the first step in FWP banning all lead-based
ammunition, a serious threat to the right to bear arms in
Montana. This bill would clarify that FWP has no authority to
regulate ammunition type without approval by the Legislature.
https://progunleaders.org/lcq2010/ammo.html
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
12. Suppressors afield.
In 1997, the Legislature removed from the statute books some
nonsensical laws about firearm suppressors (sometimes incorrectly
called "silencers"). Overlooked then was an obscure statute,
87-3-123, M.C.A, making it illegal to be "in the field or forest" with
a suppressor. Although suppressors are designed to reduce the
muzzle blast of a firearm, they cannot "silence" a firearm, especially
including the sonic boom a rifle bullet makes going through the air at
supersonic speeds. In some other parts of the world, suppressors
are required for hunting, both to protect the hearing of hunters, and
to reduce the disturbance of persons within the sound range of
gunshots. When this was discussed by the Legislature in 2009,
some suggested that hunting with a suppressor was unethical
hunting. These critics did not also discuss the ethics of much
more silent archery hunting. Another critic suggested it was
desirable for hunters to make a lot of noise to help discover poaching,
but that critic declined to support an alternate law requiring all
hunters to remove the mufflers from their vehicles during hunting
season. This old and nonsensical statute should simply be
repealed.
http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/mca/87/3/87-3-123.htm
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
13. When police may take firearms and how long they may keep them.
There are no clear directions to law enforcement in current Montana law
about under what circumstances law enforcement officers may disarm
citizens, and how long they may keep guns taken. This leaves it
up to the discretion of individual officers to make this call. A
few officers abuse this discretion by insisting on disarming every
armed citizen they encounter - treating citizens like criminals.
The right to bear arms the people have reserved to themselves at
Article II, Section 12 of the Montana Constitution does NOT say "except
when in the presence of a law enforcement officer." Rather, the
Constitution says the right to bear arms "shall not be called into
question …" We propose legislation to establish some clear but
workable rules for when and for how long law enforcement officers may
disarm citizens.
https://progunleaders.org/lcq2010/seizure.html
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
14. Controlling wolves.
Federally-introduced wolves have become a serious problem in
Montana. They are decimating Montana's valuable herds of huntable
game, killing or impacting an unacceptable amount of livestock in
Montana's already stressed agricultural community, and are carrying
diseases that may cause serious human and livestock health
problems. We propose again a bill introduced in 2009 for Montana
to take a much more aggressive posture in managing and controlling
wolves.
http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2009/billhtml/SB0183.htm
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
15. Home guard. The
Montana Home Guard is already recognized in Montana law, but current
statutes do not sufficiently enable this institution. We propose
to refurbish and expand existing law to create an all-volunteer
organization under the authority of the governor, but disconnected from
federal authority. This would allow resources for the governor to
use for in-state needs or emergencies, unlike the National Guard units
which have been determined to be units of the U.S. military and are
frequently taken out of state by the U.S.
http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2009/billhtml/HB0479.htm
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
16. Disorderly conduct - fixing bad law.
The existing disorderly conduct statute in Montana is badly written
because it makes it a potential crime for a person to discharge a
firearm, except at an established shooting range. While
inappropriate prosecutions under this existing law have not been a
problem in Montana, it is susceptible to abuse and should be
repaired. This bill would simply strike the offense of firing
firearms from the disorderly conduct statute.
https://progunleaders.org/lcq2010/disorderly.html
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
The foregoing responses are actually my positions on these issues, to the best of my knowledge and at this time.
Candidate Signature
Date
Candidate printed name
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Thank you for being willing to serve your community and state in public
office, and thank you very much for helping to provide us information
about your views on issues related to firearms and hunting.
Please return completed questionnaire to mssa@mtssa.org OR MSSA, P.O. Box 4924, Missoula 59806.
Any additional comments may be added here or on separate sheet: