Opinion
Montana – The NRA just sent out a political alert that contained this line about Montana: “Montana House to Vote on Concealed Carry Permit Reciprocity.”
News Flash. The Montana Shooting Sports Association successfully pushed a bill in 1993 that I wrote to give Montana permit reciprocity. That Montana law was improved in 1995 with another bill I wrote. Because of that success, Montana recognizes all other state permits, and Montana permits are honored by 34 other states. Plus, Montana is now permitless for both open and concealed carry, so we even let people from New York and California carry here.
Thirty years later, the NRA comes along with its own bill claiming to create reciprocity for Montana. What’s up with that?
The NRA solicited introduction of HB 674, a bill intended to create an “enhanced concealed weapon permit” here. This bill is alleged to gain recognition of the new “enhanced” Montana permits by five more states. If the NRA had bothered to ask us about this D.C.-centric idea, we’d have told them it is not suitable for Montana and that the bill, as drafted, was seriously flawed, but they didn’t bother to ask. For lack of local knowledge, the bill the NRA introduced had to have a dozen amendments applied to it to fix the drafting errors and make it more compliant with existing Montana law.
But, that heavy fix didn’t complete the repair of the bill.
The five states with which the NRA bill would allegedly get Montana reciprocity all currently disallow Montana permits because they don’t recognize permits of states that issue to persons under 21 years old. Current permits in Montana are issued to qualified applicants who are 18. The touted NRA bill would limit the new “enhanced” permit, after jumping through many more qualifying hoops than existing Montana permits, only to people 21 years and older. That’s a fatal and unrepaired flaw in the NRA bill. Why?
Because the Montana Constitution declares that persons 18 years old are adults and must be allowed all privileges of adulthood.
That section of the Montana Constitution had to be amended to allow the Legislature to restrict possession of alcohol to persons 21 years and older, and again to allow the Legislature to restrict marijuana to persons 21 and older. Without another constitutional change, the NRA bill allowing their “enhanced” permits only for people 21 and older will simply not pass constitutional muster in Montana. In that case, even if the bill passes with a constitutionally-correct age of 18, it will not allow Montanans to use these new “enhanced” permits in the five states alleged to be the reason for the bill.
What a mess! And this mess is because the NRA is so desperate for relevance that it chose to wing this effort without talking to knowledgeable people in Montana about the idea and effort.
Meanwhile, the NRA refuses to acknowledge or support the pro-gun bills MSSA has working through the Legislature. This includes a bill to remove an 1884 Jim Crow provision in our RKBA that says the RKBA doesn’t apply to concealed weapons. This includes our bill to pay court costs for a defender who is prosecuted, pleads self-defense, and is acquitted. It includes our bill to prohibit discrimination because of firearms. It includes our bill to pay court costs and attorney fees if a person wins a suit against a government entity to secure the person’s RKBA.
The NRA is withholding support for all of these good MSSA bills while pushing its seriously flawed “enhanced” permit bill that won’t accomplish its alleged objective because it is constitutionally impermissible in Montana.
Since the 1980s, Montana Shooting Sports Association has gotten 70 pro-gun bills through the Montana Legislature and enacted them into law. None of these were initiated or written by the NRA, although the NRA did support a few of them. Maybe the NRA, in its quest for contemporary relevance, is jealous of MSSA’s record of success and seeks to show what a gorilla it is. If so, it misses its target by a wide margin with its ill-conceived HB 674 in Montana.
Gary Marbut is president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, the primary political advocate for Montana gun owners. Marbut has served on the Board of Directors of Gun Owners of America and has twice been the recipient of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Grass Roots Activist of the Year award.
Answer,because they are corrupt to the stinking core, Negotiating Rights Away since 1934.
Quick – look this way – not at Wayne. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
30 years behind and dumb as a box of rocks. That’s Negotiating Rights Away, all right!
Signed, a gunsmith in Montana that realized the NRA was NOT my friend back in 1979! That was the last time I re-upped. Thank God I didn’t join for life. I almost did, but then I wised up, and quit instead! 🙂
In my ignorance back then I did become a lifer. But unless the NRA folds I’m going to live to the age of 150 and keep getting the magazine sent to my son, and then grandson. LOL!
NRA still writing bills to sell our rights down the river! F nra and FJB.
NRA, Not Really Advancing 2A… AGAIN. They do more harm than good, so when can we throw the dirt on the coffin and replace the sod????
As I always say……F@&$ the NRA!!
Thanks but no thanks NRA we have this covered here in Montana without the NRA and money grubbing Wayne . We cherish freedom here without paying for Waine’s lavish lifestyle . FJB and Wayne and the NRA .
Hey Harold, what say you??? Spot on article. I wish others, perhaps South Carolina’s awesome 2A group would join Mr. Marbut in publicly dissing the hapless NRA.
I have a history of ranting about the NRA. No need to here. You guys get it. I miss the days I was proud to be part of the association. I think Wayne and the current board are gonna outlive me. I doubt I will live to see the reform that is bound to happen.
A right that can be infringed was never a right to begin with.
That makes no sense. I think the Founding fathers put the bill of rights together to make it understood that the rights that are enumerated in them are NOT to be infringed. But to be clear, the right to free speech doesn’t include shouting FIRE in a crowded theatre. I have a right to my life. If someone murders me, they have infringed on that right. So was my right to life never a right to begin with?
I wish this “fire in a crowded theater” misquote would die an agonizing death. https://www.whalenlawoffice.com/blog/legal-mythbusting-series-yelling-fire-in-a-crowded-theater/
Actually you can, the SCOTUS has ruled that you are also responsible for your words, so if you then start a riot or stampede and people get hurt you are now responsible.
Not Representing Americans
The NRA has proven itself to be good. Good at fomenting INFRINGEMENTS upon Legal Law Abiding American Citizens. At this time, the NRA has managed to help pass OVER 15 INFRINGEMENT LAWS through the years. At one time — in the P A S T — the NRA USED to help individuals. This is questionable now in the year of our Lord 2023.
GOA actually help the cause. NRA needs the membership to keep enriching Wayne and crew. I suppose I am still a life member, but disgusted at the direction. GOA all the way and some local grass roots. Due diligence.
Montana recognizes all other state permits, and Montana permits are honored by 34 other states. Plus, Montana is now permitless for both open and concealed carry, so we even let people from New York and California carry here.
WoW !!! Did I read this wrong or what. Why is a bill necessary to change any part of the bill already in place that allows permitless carry and concealed carry. That would be going backwards would it not? So one foot forward and two steps back.
Sure it would. But moving backwards towards tyranny is what the NRA is all about, and has been since at least 1934!
I just wish I had known that in 1979! What can I say, other than that I was young and ignorant then?
The NRA just needs to close its doors permanently. We’ve been doing fine (better actually) without them for years.
Fnra!
If some states think you are not competent enough to carry a firearm at 18, why do they think you are competent enough to vote at 18?
Remember the democrats want to lower the voting age to 16.
But to them 21 is not old enough to own a firearm.
Typical liberal democrat stupidity
Huh, I just realized something! Janet Reno had it right all along, just tell the NRA to get lost!! She said it because she still believed at the time that the NRA stood behind our right to keep and bear arms, but she didn’t know the truth that the NRA is NOT our friend!!
There’s a term for this. It’s called: “Controlled Opposition”. It’s when one group or entity knows that their will will be resisted by the people, and so they infiltrate and co-opt those that resist in order to maintain their control of both sides.
IOWs, Reno and the NRA(plus many others…) were, and are, both controlled by the same group. Both are just two sides of the same corrupt fascist coin.
NRA has over stayed its usefulness, becoming an impediment to the 2A cause. Think what could be accomplished were all the dollars directed to the NRA…..aka LePewPew’s salary, benies, retirement, suits and trollop’s rent…. were redirected to SAF, GOA, FPC……putting Ole LePewPew and Board out to pasture.
Laws, laws, laws, laws! I am freaking tired as can be of hearing about all of these stupid azz anti-gun laws that are supposed to help us, when very few of them ever do! It seems that every time something bad happens, some idiot gets up and starts yelling that we should have some new kind of a law to prevent someone from getting shot. But yet the crime rates go up and up, despite piling on more and more anti-gun laws every where! Why is that true? Here’s the only real and viable solution to this insanity. It is… Read more »
Yeah, Gary, we’re seeing that in NC too. They just issued an alert on HB 101, blithely unaware that a PCS had changed the contents of the bill. I suspect that as they go broke, they dismissed their lobbyists and are trying to cope without travelling to states, which clearly won’t work.
The NO RIGHTS ABSOLUTE is as useless as a hammer made of Jello. They are for the most part a bunch of Washington game players who have the blood of the Second Amendment on their hands that they gleefully helped shed by supporting anti-gun laws like NICS, the bump stock ban and Red Flag theft laws. All that being said, die quickly you pack of traitors, it won’t be soon enough for this EX- Life member! Somebody step on its oxygen hose! Support GOA, SAF NSSF and your state organizations that have truly stood up and fought for our 2A… Read more »
I joined the NRA several years ago, a 5 year membership that I have almost regretted since day 1. They need to get rid of Wayne and his corrupt buddies, I will never join again as long as their current leadership is in charge.
Sounds like the only thing the NRA could do to make Montana more gun-friendly would be to get them to require carrying.
I believe the purpose of the bill is to have the right to carry in all 50 states an equal in all. Kinda like a driver’s license. Maybe some positives could come out of this. Maybe 1 day Montana could have reciprocity. in all 50 states! and this would be sweet for all!
So how many of you folks have been educating yourselves and voting in NRA Board elections over the last 30 years?
Wayne LaPierre isn’t on a board, he is a self imposed dictator at the NRA. How about you people who still support them be able to depose this traitor and strip him of his fat financial bird’s nest since he built it from the donations of hard working Joes who just wanted their rights left unmolested. The NRA has never been a friend of gun owners.
Many of them. And they get escorted out of the NRA meetings and not allowed to vote… or speak. You need to be aware of the realities before speaking nonsense, Mr. 45.
Ok, so let me get this straight. I thought a member of your state legislate wrote bills to be voted on in the house of Representatives. So now the NRA is in charge of writing bills to be considered ? Maybe you should call out the member of your state congress and blame them for the dumb bill that THEY submitted. Yes I do believe the NRA is in trouble and the leadership has failed their members, but I am not going to kick them in the head in public. You sir are just giving Biden and his type more… Read more »
The NRA has absolutely had a hand in writing bills. The NFA, FOPA, & NICS are just a few examples. Anyone can write a bill. Yes, the politicians deserve to be called out as well. Do you really think people here aren’t aware that the politicians also hold responsibility for enacting laws or are you just using whataboutism to deflect?
I would argue that the ones “giving Biden and his type more Ammo to use” are people who continue to support an organization that has worked with Biden and his “type” in the past to actually enact arms laws.
Did you bleep over the part about all that you suggested having ALREADY BEEN DONE 30 YEARS AGO? Excuse me, but are you from the past, Mr. Watch little?