Montana Legislature Home Stretch – A Final Push Needed for Expansion of Gun Rights

Montana Legislature Home Stretch – A Final Push Needed for Expansion of Gun Rights

Washington, DC –-(Ammoland.com)- The Legislature will adjourn this coming week. We have several bills in some sort of limbo that need a final push. Here’s the wrap-up.

HB 271, permitless carry. Senate concurrence with the conference committee report will come before the Senate on Second Reading tomorrow (Monday). See my previous email about HB 271. All senators need to be urged to vote to accept the conference committee report on HB 271.

SB 371, ammunition component manufacture. SB 371 was amended in the House to restore two incentives for manufacturers that had been stripped in the Senate upon the motion of Senator Bob Lake and with the active support of Senator Bruce Tutvedt. When SB 371 came back to the Senate for acceptance of House amendments, the motion to accept failed by a vote of 20-30. Senators Lake, Tutvedt and Ryan Zinke spoke actively against accepting House amendments. MSSA grades and endorses candidates based on their answers to the questions on MSSA’s Candidate Questionnaire. On our 2010 CQ, Senators Bob Lake, Alan Olson, Chas Vincent and Ron Arthun all promised to support this bill, yet voted against in the 20-30 Senate vote to reject House amendments. See my previous email about an intended motion to reconsider the 20-30 vote tomorrow (Monday). The senators listed there need to be barraged with messages to support a motion to reconsider and accept House amendments to SB 371.

SB 414, wolf control. Up for Second Reading in the House tomorrow (Monday). The 68-32 previous reconsideration vote should hold on this, but then it will go to the Senate for acceptance of House amendments. That will be a hard sell in the Senate because of the recent action by Congress to delist wolves. The problem is that the congressional action doesn’t help us much because it requires 1) management for far more wolves than Montana can afford, and 2) because it relies on the existing Montana Wolf Management Plan which was written to satisfy the wolf game plan of the feds. Stay tuned.

HB 174, suppressors. This bill to repeal the archaic fish and game law that makes it illegal to possess a suppressor in the “field or forest” is stuck in the Senate Judiciary Committee, being held up by four Republicans, Senators Rowlie Hutton (Havre), Jeff Essman (Billings), Jim Peterson (Buffalo) and Terry Murphy (Cardwell). These senators oppose because of pressure from ranchers who call this the “poacher bill.” Ranchers oppose because FWP told them that if the bill passes it will open the floodgates of private property poaching and FWP will not be able to save them from this disaster. After they learned more about what suppressors don’t do, the Montana Stockgrowers Association notified Committee members that they no longer oppose the bill. So now the only opposition is from ranchers who were stirred up with misinformation by FWP. These four senators need to be barraged with requests to approve HB 174.

• Phone messages to legislators: 444-4800
• Online messages
• Email addresses for most legislators.

That’s it folks. We have about three more days to get these bills passed. Thanks loads for your help.

About Montana Shooting Sports Association:
MSSA is the primary political advocate for Montana gun owners. Visit: www.mtssa.org