Libertyteeth
Member
From the Montana Shooting Sports Association
Dear MSSA Friends,
MSSA's bills are starting to get bill numbers now, so you can track and
support them. That these bills now have numbers means that they've been
introduced, and will soon begin to move through the process.
We've been working on many of these for a long time. One bill ("Sheriffs
First") was drafted for the 1995 session, passed, vetoed by Racicot, and
introduced again in 1997. Another ("No SSN to Hunt and Fish") was
introduced in 2001 and 2003, but died both sessions because Governor Martz
reneged on her campaign promise to support it.
Here are these two bill numbers, names, sponsors, short description, and
the URLs where you can read the bill text:
HB 284, "Sheriffs First", Rep. Ray Hawk. This bill would make it a crime
under state law for a federal officer to arrest, search or seize without
the written permission of the elected county sheriff. This bill is to
force federal police cooperation with the locally-elected and
locally-accountable sheriff. There are exceptions for federal enclaves
(E.G. Malstrom AFB, Glacier Park, etc.), Border Patrol and INS, possible
corrupt sheriffs, and more. Read the bill at:
http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2005/billhtml/HB0284.htm
HB 305, "No SSN to Hunt and Fish", Rep. Elsie Arntzen. SSNs have been
required for purchase of the underlying Conservation License because of
requirements under federal "Deadbeat Dad" law, which says that states must
collect SSNs on applications for all vocational, occupational and
recreational licenses. This has been very unpopular with people concerned
about privacy and possible identity theft. HB 305 sets up an alternate
option for people who want to hunt and fish to do so without giving an
SSN. It says that instead of buying the precursor Conservation License,
you may instead pay an "administrative fee" without giving an SSN, for the
same cost as a Conservation License, and you get a receipt that may be used
just like a Conservation License, including as the precursor to buy game
tags (deer tags, elk tags, etc.) Read the bill at:
http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2005/billhtml/HB0305.htm
Two other bills will be introduced soon, and may now be tracked by their
"LC number". Here is the same information for these bills, including the
intended (not official yet) sponsor.
LC0564, "Citizen Self Defense Act", Rep. Diane Rice. This is MSSA's
flagship (most important) bill this session, and is a general overhaul of
Montana laws relating to use of firearms for self defense. This bill
closes some loopholes, and fills some important voids in Montana law,
clarifies critical points, and basically makes it more clear how a person
may defend themselves without worrying about being prosecuted for a bunch
of crimes. The text of this bill is not yet on the Legislature's Website,
but it will be soon. Keep checking the website for the LC number (0564) if
you want to read the details coming soon.
LC0565, "Montana Firearm Freedom Act", Rep. Roger Koopman (former V.P. of
MSSA). This bill is intended to roll back attempted federal regulation of
everything in Creation under assumed congressional authority found in the
"commerce clause" of the federal constitution, which gives Congress the
power to "regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the
several states, and with the Indian tribes". This power has been MUCH
abused by Congress. Our bill makes a Tenth Amendment challenge to commerce
clause authority, using firearms as a Montana-friendly topic. It says that
any firearms made in Montana and retained in Montana are simply not subject
to federal regulation whatsoever because they haven't crossed any state
lines. It sets up a process for the Montana Attorney General to clear the
legal hurdles in the federal courts, so no would-be manufacturer of
Montana-made guns need face federal criminal charges to test this
law. Read this bill DRAFT at:
http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2005/lchtml/LC0565.htm
Two other bills we will support. There are two other bills I have written,
gotten official bill draft requests on, that are now introduced, are not a
part of the official MSSA Legislative Agenda (our primary bills), but ARE
supported by MSSA. I encourage your support of these, too:
HB 286, "Prairie Dog bill", Rep. Wayne Stahl. Montana was bullied by the
feds into protecting Prairie Dogs. The Legislature passed a law putting
PDs on the Montana list of "non-game species in need of management". The
feds said if Montana didn't do this, the feds *might* list PDs as an
endangered species. So, Montana caved and protected PDs. Since then MSSA
has pressured Congress to persuade the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to
drop consideration of PDs as endangered, which they have now done. So, now
we have this bill to repeal the Montana law that protects PDs. Read the
bill at:
http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2005/billhtml/HB0286.htm
HB 287, "Patriot Act Response", Rep. Bill Warden. Congress has passed laws
that conflict with freedoms reserved to the people of Montana in the
Montana Constitution. Perhaps the most egregious of these are Patriot Act
I and Patriot Act II. There's not much we can do in Montana about federal
enforcement of these laws, but we can prohibit Montana law enforcement
personnel from helping the feds enforce these. HB 287 clarifies what is
already the legal situation, but unstated in Montana law - that the
authority of a Montana peace officer is limited by the constraints in the
Montana Constitution, and that any Montana peace officer who helps the feds
enforce a law in conflict with the Montana Constitution has exceeded his
grant of authority under Montana law. Read this bill at:
http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2005/billhtml/HB0287.htm
To understand the process these bills go through, and how to be involved,
read the material at:
http://www.mtssa.org/legisupdates.phtml?legupdate_id=2
To track any one of these bills on the Legislature's Website - to find out
when you need to take action, go to:
http://laws.leg.state.mt.us/pls/laws05/law0203w$.startup
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you use the process offered on this page to
establish your personal "Preference List"! Plug these bill#s and LC#s into
your preference list so you can check the status of these bills daily, all
on one screen.
Thanks for your interest and help!!
Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.mtpublish.org
Dear MSSA Friends,
MSSA's bills are starting to get bill numbers now, so you can track and
support them. That these bills now have numbers means that they've been
introduced, and will soon begin to move through the process.
We've been working on many of these for a long time. One bill ("Sheriffs
First") was drafted for the 1995 session, passed, vetoed by Racicot, and
introduced again in 1997. Another ("No SSN to Hunt and Fish") was
introduced in 2001 and 2003, but died both sessions because Governor Martz
reneged on her campaign promise to support it.
Here are these two bill numbers, names, sponsors, short description, and
the URLs where you can read the bill text:
HB 284, "Sheriffs First", Rep. Ray Hawk. This bill would make it a crime
under state law for a federal officer to arrest, search or seize without
the written permission of the elected county sheriff. This bill is to
force federal police cooperation with the locally-elected and
locally-accountable sheriff. There are exceptions for federal enclaves
(E.G. Malstrom AFB, Glacier Park, etc.), Border Patrol and INS, possible
corrupt sheriffs, and more. Read the bill at:
http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2005/billhtml/HB0284.htm
HB 305, "No SSN to Hunt and Fish", Rep. Elsie Arntzen. SSNs have been
required for purchase of the underlying Conservation License because of
requirements under federal "Deadbeat Dad" law, which says that states must
collect SSNs on applications for all vocational, occupational and
recreational licenses. This has been very unpopular with people concerned
about privacy and possible identity theft. HB 305 sets up an alternate
option for people who want to hunt and fish to do so without giving an
SSN. It says that instead of buying the precursor Conservation License,
you may instead pay an "administrative fee" without giving an SSN, for the
same cost as a Conservation License, and you get a receipt that may be used
just like a Conservation License, including as the precursor to buy game
tags (deer tags, elk tags, etc.) Read the bill at:
http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2005/billhtml/HB0305.htm
Two other bills will be introduced soon, and may now be tracked by their
"LC number". Here is the same information for these bills, including the
intended (not official yet) sponsor.
LC0564, "Citizen Self Defense Act", Rep. Diane Rice. This is MSSA's
flagship (most important) bill this session, and is a general overhaul of
Montana laws relating to use of firearms for self defense. This bill
closes some loopholes, and fills some important voids in Montana law,
clarifies critical points, and basically makes it more clear how a person
may defend themselves without worrying about being prosecuted for a bunch
of crimes. The text of this bill is not yet on the Legislature's Website,
but it will be soon. Keep checking the website for the LC number (0564) if
you want to read the details coming soon.
LC0565, "Montana Firearm Freedom Act", Rep. Roger Koopman (former V.P. of
MSSA). This bill is intended to roll back attempted federal regulation of
everything in Creation under assumed congressional authority found in the
"commerce clause" of the federal constitution, which gives Congress the
power to "regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the
several states, and with the Indian tribes". This power has been MUCH
abused by Congress. Our bill makes a Tenth Amendment challenge to commerce
clause authority, using firearms as a Montana-friendly topic. It says that
any firearms made in Montana and retained in Montana are simply not subject
to federal regulation whatsoever because they haven't crossed any state
lines. It sets up a process for the Montana Attorney General to clear the
legal hurdles in the federal courts, so no would-be manufacturer of
Montana-made guns need face federal criminal charges to test this
law. Read this bill DRAFT at:
http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2005/lchtml/LC0565.htm
Two other bills we will support. There are two other bills I have written,
gotten official bill draft requests on, that are now introduced, are not a
part of the official MSSA Legislative Agenda (our primary bills), but ARE
supported by MSSA. I encourage your support of these, too:
HB 286, "Prairie Dog bill", Rep. Wayne Stahl. Montana was bullied by the
feds into protecting Prairie Dogs. The Legislature passed a law putting
PDs on the Montana list of "non-game species in need of management". The
feds said if Montana didn't do this, the feds *might* list PDs as an
endangered species. So, Montana caved and protected PDs. Since then MSSA
has pressured Congress to persuade the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to
drop consideration of PDs as endangered, which they have now done. So, now
we have this bill to repeal the Montana law that protects PDs. Read the
bill at:
http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2005/billhtml/HB0286.htm
HB 287, "Patriot Act Response", Rep. Bill Warden. Congress has passed laws
that conflict with freedoms reserved to the people of Montana in the
Montana Constitution. Perhaps the most egregious of these are Patriot Act
I and Patriot Act II. There's not much we can do in Montana about federal
enforcement of these laws, but we can prohibit Montana law enforcement
personnel from helping the feds enforce these. HB 287 clarifies what is
already the legal situation, but unstated in Montana law - that the
authority of a Montana peace officer is limited by the constraints in the
Montana Constitution, and that any Montana peace officer who helps the feds
enforce a law in conflict with the Montana Constitution has exceeded his
grant of authority under Montana law. Read this bill at:
http://data.opi.state.mt.us/bills/2005/billhtml/HB0287.htm
To understand the process these bills go through, and how to be involved,
read the material at:
http://www.mtssa.org/legisupdates.phtml?legupdate_id=2
To track any one of these bills on the Legislature's Website - to find out
when you need to take action, go to:
http://laws.leg.state.mt.us/pls/laws05/law0203w$.startup
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND that you use the process offered on this page to
establish your personal "Preference List"! Plug these bill#s and LC#s into
your preference list so you can check the status of these bills daily, all
on one screen.
Thanks for your interest and help!!
Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.mtpublish.org