MT: Urgent! Report Pro-Second Amendment Legislation From the State Senate and House Committees!

Urgent! Tell your Legislators to Report the Pro-Second Amendment Bills from Committee!

Patriots, please Take Action to submit your supporting statement for each bill within their respective committees!

In order to restore and preserve our God-given right to “keep and bear arms” within Montana, we must report these bills out of committee!

President of The Montana Shooting Sports Association, Gary Marbut, provides us with the briefing on the inbound legislation:

S.B. 361 Non-discrimination over firearms. Sponsor, Sen. John Fuller. There are a number of ways that discrimination against firearms may be rearing its ugly head. Some lenders and credit or payment processors are refusing to provide services to entities that manufacture, distribute or sell firearms. Some insurers may decline to service firearm-related businesses or firearm owners. Some private entities with public access may disallow firearms but fail to offer any actual safety to disarmed people. All of these are discriminatory. The Montana Constitution prohibits discrimination because of political or civil rights.

The Nation Makers (1903) by Howard Pyle

S.B. 361 is being heard TOMORROW in the State Senate Business and Labor Committee at 8:00 AM (MST)!

H.B. 629 The cost of self-defense. Sponsor, Rep. Brandon Ler. When citizens lawfully employ arms in defense of life, liberty, and property, they may still be destroyed financially by an overzealous prosecutor. This bill proposes that if a person is prosecuted for a crime, claims self-defense successfully and is not convicted, then the cost of the person’s defense must be awarded to the accused by the court. This would be a claim against the prosecutor’s budget.

H.B. 629 is being heard on Thursday in the State House Judiciary Committee at 8:00 AM (MST)!

H.B. 631 The price of civil rights. Sponsor, Rep. Jedediah Hinkle. There are times when people’s right to keep or bear arms is violated by a governmental entity. The person complains, but the entity ignores the citizen. The person threatens to sue to get rights enforced by a court. The abusive entity says, so sue – we have lawyers on staff paid by the taxpayers. The proposed law would clarify that if a person must sue to enforce constitutional rights and the person prevails, then the person should be awarded the cost of pursuing the necessary lawsuit.

H.B. 631 is being heard on Thursday in the State House Judiciary Committee at 8:00 AM (MST)!

H.B. 604 Sheriffs First – Law Enforcement Cooperation. Sponsor, Rep. Jennifer Carlson. In Montana, we believe the sheriff is the chief law enforcement officer in the county, and ought to have the tools to implement that status. This bill requires 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.

H.B. 604 is being heard on Friday in the State House Judiciary Committee at 8:00 AM (MST)!

GOA & MSSA are presenting a unified front in support of these critical pieces of pro-freedom legislation so that Montana remains a Free State!

Patriots, please try to attend each hearing in person.

If you are unable to attend the hearings, please Take Action to submit your supporting statement for each bill within their respective committees.