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Montana has had a long-running battle over gun control at the local level. The city of Missoula enacted a universal background check law in 2016 that was eventually struck down by the state supreme court last year. In an effort to make it even more clear that local governments can’t enact their own restrictions, the state legislature sent Democratic Governor Steve Bullock a bill that would have preempted local restrictions on concealed carry.

He promptly vetoed it.

montana governor steve bullock
Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

As Bullock wrote at the time . . .

Montana law already prohibits cities and towns from adopting regulations that restrict “the right to keep or bear arms.” Section 7-1-111, MCA. But Montana, like other American jurisdictions throughout our country’s history-and the English jurisdictions that preceded them-has long allowed these same cities and towns to adopt regulations around concealed weapons and the presence of weapons in certain public spaces. …

Though the distinction between the right to bear arms and the desire to conceal them remains in the Constitution, HB 325 would strike it from Montana’s local government statutes. The bill would also prevent local governments from adopting regulations around weapons in parks and schools. Bizarrely, the bill even bars local governments from regulations that would facilitate existing prohibitions on gun ownership by convicted felons and the mentally ill.

That didn’t satisfy the Republican-controlled legislature, which promptly set to work brewing up new bills to put the question of local restrictions on concealed carry to the voters.

From the Great Falls Tribune:

Legislative Referendum 130 asks voters to remove local governments’ power to regulate the carrying of concealed firearms – or to restrict the open carry of firearms – except in public buildings within a government’s jurisdiction.

The measure, if approved, also would repeal local government’s authority to prevent the possession of firearms by convicted felons, minors, undocumented immigrants and or people judged to be mentally incompetent. The measure doesn’t affect other federal or state firearms restrictions about such possession.

Groups like the Montana League of Cities and Towns and the Montana School Boards Association are fighting the measure, but the state supreme court ruled it will appear on the November ballot, so voters will have the final say.

[T]he sponsor of the stricken Missoula ordinance, Missoula City Council President Bryan von Lossberg, said LR-130 would limit local officials’ power to serve their communities.

“LR-130 is an attack on freedom,” von Lossberg said. “My job as a local official is to act in the interest of the public safety, well-being and welfare of my constituents. This initiative makes that job much harder to do because it eviscerates local control.”

 

75 COMMENTS

  1. Montana has been overrun by leftists that vote in people like Bullock. The state is toast lol

      • you forgot to include, “….we’re sorry we did not get around to destroying your lovely state a lot sooner”. For I do not seriously think that the idiot leftists that moved to Montana (and destroying it) are ever sorry for anything they do. They are only sorry everyone else does not bend over to their socialist policies a lot sooner.

        • Honestly, the only way to keep a state from becoming a liberal hell hole, I believe is to:

          1) limit city size to 100,000 people, no more.
          2) Dont let any university’s or colleges be created in your state.

          Its not that education it self that is the problem, its that the educators plant so much liberal BS into these kids who, thanks to caselaw get to vote where they reside, instead of their parents address, that they just completely upend the local community.

          San Francisco and Santa Cruz were nice places once.

          • When the liberals (mostly Californians) started moving to Montana, there should have been a law stipulating that none of them could ever run for office or vote in any state election-EVER. Just sit down, shut up, pay your taxes, and enjoy the fact that Montana was NOT California. Well, that horse has left the barn a long, long time ago. As for the University students, if they all think that Socialism (which most of them teach) is so great, ship them to Venezuela-one way ticket-so that hey can get everything they want for free. It will take them learning the hard way to learn how expensive free stuff is. I think hell will freeze over first.

      • Yes, and the same damn thing has happened to Colorado. Soon to follow will be Nevada, Arizona, and Texas. These people’s voting habits have f$$cked up the entire west coast to the point they can’t even live there anymore, and now they’re moving and spreading their poison everywhere else. Pathetic.

    • No surprise.
      This is what happens when Californians (Hollywood) moves to Montana. It happened to Colorado. It’s happening to (NW) Indiana and Florida.
      The democrats HAVE a plan. The republicans don’t. They always play defense. Always trying to prove they’re not homophobes, racists, misogynist etc. They get arrested for having a gun in the car (not using it), while antifa is burning down buildings and beating people…no charges. Geeeeze, wake up GOP! It’s like you WANT to lose.

    • I want to know what state you live in. Montana has its battles but I’m sure it’s better off than most.

  2. This is really odd to me. I did not think mostly rural Montana had a history of small local governments trying to infringe.

    • Missoula is a decent sized college town, with all the typical liberal bullshit you get in college towns.

    • Crock,
      It is not the small local governments, it is only the increasingly liberal big cities that have attempted end runs around the Montana constitution. The other problem is our current Democrat governor, who has vetoed almost a dozen bills that would have expanded our 2nd Amendment protections.

      Rural Montana is different; for example, out here I get nothing but love when people see the 1911 on my hip.

      • This is amazing to me. Pray tell, what free shit did a Democrat promise Montana to get his sorry ass elected? And does anybody think it will ever be delivered? Just amazing.

    • @Crock

      We rural Montanans don’t…the useful idiots in the three major college / university towns* are driving the disarmament push…

      I took the liberty of fixing von Lossberg’s statement…my version: “My job as a local is to act in the interest of the public safety, well-being and welfare of myself and my fellow citizens.”

      *Billings, Bozeman and Missoula

    • This was brought to Montana by the former Commies of Commiefornia,they spread the disease of Leftardism where ever they go.

      • Kalifornia is not solely to blame… we also have lots of Washington, Minnesota, Colorado and, surprisingly, a number of New York / New Jersey illegal immigrants. When you talk with them they say that they are leaving the pestilence they created in their last residences to re-create their “Utopias” here (I am over-generalizing – many of the people transplanting here identify as Conservative trying to escape the sewers they lived in….the challenge for Montana is that their idea of Conservative is to vote for the least evil Democrat running…🤬).

        • Why don’t you guys just movie already? Commietana appears to be abandoning the constitution.

          /sarcasm from a Californian who was always amused by seeing people who thought their state would always be a gun safe haven.

          • @Crock

            Retired here! Love the mountains…don’t like flatlands or swamps (tried both…how do you navigate without a nearby mountain for reference??). Don’t like the heat and sandstorms along the Southwest…or, the humidity in many other locales. I live at ≈4200’…no flooding, no hurricanes, no tornadoes, the occasional blizzard, haven’t seen a cockroach in 25 years…yea, it’s home after 2.5 decades.

  3. No local government should have the power to violate a Constitutionally enumerated Right. To aid in the fight against such abuses of your Civil Rights, here is what I found for a state wide organization in Montana:

    Montana Shooting Sports Association
    http://www.mtssa.org/

    Next comes the national gun rights organizations that are doing some good without aiding the corruption of Wayne’s World:

    Second Amendment Foundation
    https://www.saf.org/

    Gun Owners of America
    https://gunowners.org/

    Firearms Policy Coalition
    https://www.firearmspolicy.org/

    Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms
    https://www.ccrkba.org/

    • enuf…You forgot to mention your deranged marxist level disdain for the POTUS. At the end of the day your self serving vote goes to the Gun Control duo biden /harris…And you know it does jackazz.

  4. ““LR-130 is an attack on freedom,” von Lossberg said. “My job as a local official is to act in the interest of the public safety, well-being and welfare of my constituents. This initiative makes that job much harder to do because it eviscerates local control.”
    That statement is ass backwards.

    • No it’s not.

      It’s quite obviously an attack on freedom. His freedom. His freedom to tell you what to do, how to do it and have his wishes enforced by other people.

      How on earth can public officials micromanage your life if they’re not free to do so? Common sense, comon’ man!

      • We’re not talking about his freedom, we’re talking about his power.

        Just like in the 10th Amendment situations, we’re not talking about state governments’ rights, governments don’t have rights, we’re talking about state government powers.

  5. I expect Florida to be destroyed by Democrats in the next few years. I thought Montana might be a place to go. Disappointing.

  6. I live in Gallatin County.

    I hate to say it, but we’re seeing the same thing OR/WA/ID have been gradually experiencing over the past couple of decades.

    This has a depressingly decent chance of failure.

  7. What has the greater population, the rural areas, or the Leftist-voting city areas?

  8. Never in a million years did I ever think that-of all states, Montana-would enact gun control. Sad to say, though, stupid, idiot leftists started moving there 30 years ago to “get away/escape” the hell they created in other states, and have since destroyed Montana-turning it into the sh* hole they left. It used to be a nice state. A do-what-we-want, hands-off-our-guns kind of state. Give it another 20 years, it will be just another California in every way, shape, and form. What a sad way for a nice state to reach its end.

    • “Resistance is futile. Your life as it has been is over. From this time forward you will service us.”

      • I’ve been telling people for years. Run from CA. Just move when they show up in your state. It doesn’t matter. They are migrating.

        The only way to completely defeat gun control in America is to break CA. So long as CA is allowed to run it’s campaign human and civil rights are under threat.

        • Well, that’s quite a conundrum. Progtard voters outnumber all other voters in California almost two to one, so either the progtards have to leave (nobody wants them) or normal people have to move in (no normal person wants to).

          Or maybe, instead, the freedom-minded people of California could get with the program and stage a mass exodus. Not merely for yourselves, but for the good of the entire country.

          Think about it. If only half of the freedom-minded, non-Democrat voters in California moved to a nearby state of their choice, there would still be enough of them to tip Oregon and Washington back into the red-state ranks and secure Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, and Montana for another generation.

        • Only until the next wave of leftist surge out of CA. We need a conservative scotus that will rule that gun control is essentially the same as human and civil rights violations. Which they are.

          Denying me my 2a rights, which is an ongoing thing in CA, is the same as denying a woman the right to vote because she is a woman. And once leftist pols are labeled accurately as human and civil rights deniers we will see a change.

          Which is why we need to give Trump a second term. He picks the justices, not biden.

        • Cali is a weird one demographically speaking. 19.9 million registered voters, 43.1% Democrats, 23.6% Republican and 33.2% unaffiliated. (The missing 0.1% due to my rounding choice.)

          This would suggest that Democrats can easily control the state’s cities but require significant support from unaffiliated voters in state-wide matters and, would on a cursory glance, seem to get it.

          Without a deeper dive into who actually bothers to vote, how unaffiliated break down and whatnot I can’t really say and I have neither the time or the interest to bother with that at this point.

          Given my experience in Colorado I would suggest that when there are a fair number of California tags showing up in your state the infection has begun and the prognosis isn’t good at that point. The more conservative members of the population don’t seem to flee in great numbers. Given this, I would hypothesize that the majority of people emigrating from Cali are probably mostly liberal leaning unaffiliated voters tired of the results of Progressive policies but not engaged enough to recognize the cause of the problem. Casual Karens and Kens politically speaking; not real bright and usually quiet but uppity as fuck when the right buttons are pushed and generally passive aggressive in their overall political views and posture.

        • I have figured for a while that the solution for CA would be to secede from the union.
          That way, the armed minority could take over and establish a state constitution that ensured RKBA.

        • The only thing we actually need is the same thing the leftists needed 40 years ago, a dedicated determination to have only conservative staff and conservative professors in each and every teaching college. How to accomplish that I dunno, but that is what we need. The left accomplished that by continuously promising more and more free stuff, and then blaming the lack of any attempt at delivery on the nasty conservatives, over and over and over and over.

    • Happening to Tennessee by way Of Nashville. Davidson County and Shelby County (Memphis) are the only blue in a sea of red. People are piling into Nashville from NYC, Chicago and Cali as we speak. They have a long way to go before they flip this state, though.

      • I am not so sure. Montanans did not think they would end up in the crap hole mess they are in today. They are just another “California-North” now, and may that state rest in peace. Never under estimate stupid, desperate, idiot liberals who want to escape the crap they voted in and created for themselves, so that they can share the misery with others by “trying it again” somewhere else. These people truly are mentally ill, but you cannot say that, because that would make you a racist. Or something.

  9. There’s only one remedy for this. Reduce the liberal/anti-gun population. Y’all can figure out how to do that.

    • Things will get interesting if some folks were to take that idea to heart, out there… 🙂

    • Hey, Gunny, pretty sure we’re going to get to that. Just have to remember the overriding directive once we start, “root and branch”.

  10. The high and mighty Montana Gov. sits on his self serving democRat behind and enjoys the company of armed concealed carry security guards. For all others…you are expendable.

  11. The towns I have my property in are not in favor of this Democrat Governor or most of his policies,
    But like people up here ☝️Have stated, it’s the large college city’s that are pushing the anti gun narrative.
    the rural or small towns have no problem with opening carry or concealed. I have out of state plates on my vehicles & been pulled over several time’s with a loaded weapon in my glovebox that the officer noticed & nothing happened, but I’m not a felon either.
    Long live MONTANA & ….”””FREE KYLE”””

    • Sounds like Illinois. Downstate is pro 2A.
      It’s Chicago and it’s suburban soccer moms that carry the whole state. These are the same people that put masks on 2 yr olds…and wear it outside in the forest preserves.

  12. Build an urban gun culture. Break the leftists’ hold on urban populations. Or else this will repeat in every state PotG have left.

    • But there IS an urban gun culture. It’s call gangs, and they are pretty good with illegal guns. Not sure how we can get them to be part of a legal gun culture. Then they’d have to stop working for the politicians….as their “enforcers”… (…at least in Chicago)

  13. Though the distinction between the right to bear arms and the desire to conceal them remains in the Constitution

    That must have been edited out of my copy of the Constitution. I can’t find it anywhere.

    • I can go either way, but I can see the right to keep and bear being unrestricted by “You have to hide them” or “you cannot hide them”. If the right to keep and bear was REALLY enforced, those restrictions would be revealed as worthless asswipe stupidity within a year or two.

  14. Concealed means concealed.

    No one in their right mind would follow any city’s laws on fire arms.

  15. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Let the people decide. It’s democratic!

    “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”

    — H.L. Mencken

    “At it’s core, ‘democracy’ is indistinguishable from mob rule.”

    — Ralph

  16. As of Montana, good luck.

    I know the cities are overrun with leftist. That said, it won’t be pretty if they maintain the popular vote. Everywhere in Montana that BLM and antifa came out, they were outnumbered by gun owners. Everywhere.

    So come and fucking take them. If you pass an anti-concealment law here, there will be more open carry than ever. Try to stop us. We are organized, and we have been training for stuff like this.

    • Hey, I’m old and don’t work so well anymore, but If it comes to that don’t shoot me, you’ll recognize me by all the guns I’m carrying when I arrive.

  17. A gun is a tool against the tyranny of the left! 🖕Them!

    • Your handle is erroneous. The Constitution does not “give us” any of our pre-existing human rights; it enumerates SOME of them and forbids government from abridging, infringing or otherwise violating the free exercise thereof. Even were the BOR repealed, those rights would still exist but Government would no longer be restrained from violating them. It would, therefor, devolve upon the people to secure their natural rights, by force of law or force of arms.

      • So, when the people secured their rights once more, could they recompose the same 2A, or would they just need to hunt down the folks who said it no longer applied? And, uh, “deal” with them?

  18. Montana, Idaho and Wyoming all taking 2A down. What’s left? Booking w. Elon for that first Mars flight?

    Oh hell, he’ll probably not allow even check-thru ordnance. Never mind. I’ll just continue to guard my front porch and rear end here in flyover USA.

    • With all the extraterrestrial horse manure going on, has anyone suggested taking a .308 along on the next moon mission, to attempt a 5-mile shot on the moon? Maybe a .338 Lapua? Even a 6.5 fucking CREEDMORE? Maybe contract someone about a 100-200X scope to go along with? Can you IMAGINE? Hey, you could use a wadcutter 6.5, Cd is not a player with no atmosphere!

  19. I live in AZ and watching it sliding to the left rather quickly. We have one openly bisexual Dem senator and the next one is likely to be a rich anti-gun socialist Dem named Mark Kelly, who founded an anti-gun PAC in his wife’s name. Where can an old white guy move and not have to worry about Democretins taking away second Ammendment rights? Wyoming may be the last state to fall but it is too windy and cold out there.

  20. Flathead County, Montana here. This is the last time I am voting, with a ballot, if more liberties are stripped away afterward (or they try). I could always vote with my feet and move away. But then there’s….

    We know Bullock is no friend to gun owners. He’s (twice now) vetoed Constitutional Carry laws that the will of the People supported. He all claims to be a friend to the 2nd Amendment because he’s a hunter. Where does it say jack-shit about hunting in the 2nd Amendment?

    To be honest, I’m tired of the entire system. So much fluff and bureaucratic BS that was tacked on (much of which done via both party’s efforts) never outlined or structured in either the U.S. Constitution or the State Constitution. I’m sick of parties. I’m sick of it all.

    The fact that there’s no mechanism in place that would legally allow me to just move into the wilderness, set up a quiet, peaceful homestead and live off a small garden with a few goats and chickens should speak volumes to just how truly free this nation really is. Well, someplace that isn’t sporadic parts of Alaska, anyway. I can’t think of any other places that have no property taxes.

    • Also flathead county. I feel the same. Native Americans lived off the land until europeans came and “civilized” everything. Quite frankly, I am tired of asking permission. I currently have a CCW permit. I will NOT be renewing it. I am not paying the state to ask for permission on a constitutional right anymore. I don’t care what state that is. Make me a criminal, fine. The way things are going I’ll be a “guerilla” in the next couple years anyways. I am already a white supremacists far right extremist simply for being white and valuing my freedom, which honestly, is about the farthest thing from true you could get. Don’t care anymore. Come and take them. Funny how I said this years ago on this forum and people were all over my nuts about “all talk”. Look at them now. Wondering what side they truly stand on and if their vote really matters. It doesn’t. Regardless of who wins in November, we all lose. Always have. All a “republican” might do is prolong the inevitable.

      • Even prolonging the inevitable might be good. The idea is that eventually some people will realize they are being lied to, and then we won’t have to kill them. All good!

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