Posted on 04/19/2011 7:20:25 PM PDT by marktwain
Home Stretch – final push needed
April 18, 2011
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 acceptthe 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.
Gary Marbut, president Montana Shooting Sports Association http://www.mtssa.org author, Gun Laws of Montana http://www.mtpublish.com
Written by Tom · Filed Under MSSA News Permitless carry – Senate – Monday
April 16, 2011
We are told that our Permitless Carry bill, HB 271 will be before the Montana Senate on Monday.
It has not been necessary to have a concealed weapon permit to carry concealed outside of cities in Montana (99.4% of Montana) for 20 years. There is no identifiable incidence of problems with this permitless carry in nearly all of Montana, nor is there a problem with currently-legal open carry inside cities.
HB 271 will make it essentially the same inside cities as it has successfully been outside cities for two decades.
HB 271 was amended by a joint House/Senate conference committee to allow in-city permitless concealed carry by anyone able to legally possess a handgun. The House approved the conference committee amendments. Now the Senate will consider the amended HB 271 on Monday.
Please urge your senator and any other senators you wish to support HB 271 when it comes before the full Senate for approval of the conference committee report.
Whenever we have sought to improve concealed carry laws, there have been dire, hypothetical predictions of disaster. In 1991 when we passed Montana’s current mandatory-issue law, opponents said the result would be “rivers of blood running in the streets” of Montana. Like all other such dire predictions, these turned out to be untrue. We don’t need to reach to hypotheticals to know what the outcome will be – we have actual, historical data. Vermont has never criminalized concealed carry and has less violent crime than nearly all other states. Alaska and Arizona passed permitless concealed carry laws and have experienced no problems. Hard data – not hypothetical.
I like to call the current status “coat control” inside cities. Open carry has always been legal there, but whether or not a person can don a coat that covers a gun inside a Montana city depends on having a CWP (coat permit). Hey, a lot of the year it’s cold in Montana. Why should we have coat control?
Contact senators and urge concurrence with the conference committee report on HB 271.
Thanks,
Gary Marbut, president Montana Shooting Sports Association http://www.mtssa.org author, Gun Laws of Montana http://www.mtpublish.com
>>HB 174, suppressors. This bill (snip) being held up by four Republicans, Senators Rowlie Hutton (Havre), Jeff Essman (Billings), Jim Peterson (Buffalo) and Terry Murphy (Cardwell).<<
>They just need a little nudge.<
May I suggest four $1000 contribution checks.
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