Opinion
Before this legislative session started, I was approached by the National Shooting Sports Association (NSSF) with an idea for a bill for Montana. They suggested a bill to create a state shooting sports complex somewhere in Montana.
I told them that this would not be a good idea in Montana. I may have used the words “dumb idea.”
What Montana needs, I told NSSF, are safe and suitable places for people to shoot throughout Montana that are a 20-minute drive from where people live, not a fancy central facility hours away from 90% of Montana’s population.
We are already working on distributed ranges. I told NSSF, with our Shooting Range Development Program (SRDP), that the Montana Shooting Sports Association got started in 1989 and uses hunter license money to make matching grants to local clubs to develop local ranges. The SRDP, I told NSSF, has been a highly successful program, is already established in Montana law, and is ongoing.
The NSSF idea of a central shooting sports complex is unnecessary and would compete with the SRDP for money before the Legislature.
The NSSF is the “industry association” representing gun manufacturers and sellers. Since its headquarters is in Connecticut, one might imagine how they might think it a good idea to have a single-state shooting sports complex. They just don’t understand Montana’s size and population density.
Imagine, for example, an expensive and large new DMV headquarters located in Deer Lodge. People could go to a shiny new building to register vehicles. The place would be well staffed with friendly people and served by the fastest computers. People from Sidney, Libby, Ekalaka, and Dillon could go there to register their vehicles.
But would they? Who would drive hours to register a car when they could do that at their local DMV office? It’s the same with a central state shooting complex.
This (still dumb) idea has been introduced as HB 899 in the Legislature. The NSSF didn’t take my advice. HB 899 is scheduled for a public hearing before the House Business and Labor Committee on Thursday morning, April 3rd.
Montana Shooting Sports Association will oppose the bill.
HB 899 would set up a task force to determine where to locate this complex. One flaw in the bill is that it doesn’t allow the task force to examine if this is a good idea or a good fit for Montana – no market analysis.
The NSSF will likely show to support this bill, as may the NRA (we’ll see).
If HB 899 were to pass, I predict that funding for MSSA’s longstanding and successful SRDP would dry up.
I highly recommend that you get messages to members of the House Business and Labor Committee opposing HB 899. It’s just not a good fit for Montana. You can message all members of this Committee with one sent via the Legislature’s website.
Thanks for your help.
Best wishes,
Gary Marbut, President
Montana Shooting Sports Association
www.mtssa.org
Author, Gun Laws of Montana
www.mtpublish.com
About Gary Marbut
Longtime Montana political observer and participant Gary Marbut is president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, the primary political advocate for Montana gun owners.
Millions and millions of acres of public land that one can shoot on.
Most of a short drive from any place in Montana.
No need to spend that amount of money.
The minute the state starts to dictate where shooting facilities will be is the day that they will limit your shooting in the forest and open grass lands.
We shoot whenever and wherever we want to unless there is a high fire danger.
Gary, while I agree with your position on not creating a centralized shooting complex, your DMV example was a painful reminder that until 2016 the state did operate a Title and Registration Bureau office in Deer Lodge. Over strong local protest it was closed and consolidated in Helena, which inconvenienced the many Montanans it served and adversely impacted those employees who resided in the area. Their options were to uproot and relocate to a higher cost area or face a long commute to Helena.
Any place they build a range will be closed after a transplant buys land near by and bitches every day about the noise and traffic . It’s been a pattern here in Montana and I wish the crybabies would go back to where the hell they came from . Get this transplants I don’t t want you in Montana .
I may be an out of stater but I think this discussion is intermixing two topics. The locals, aka what I call weekenders, do need a nearby place to stay proficient, teach others, and ensure they are ready for the upcoming season at low cost to the users. And the threats to impromptu shooting areas is VERY real. Local clubs need to create modest facilities to address these needs IMHO. The topic I think the larger facility is needed for is the specialized sports such as trap, skeet, sporting clays, PRS, benchrest, ARA, etc. which need equipment and space. These… Read more »
Next great politicians’ idea…build Montana outhouses for bears to have a comfortable place to shit.
Too much area with too few people to make such an idea worthwhile. Rhode Island though………. 🙂
Government owned shooting ranges… How often do we hear bad stories about them?
Remember the recent story on the lousy public ranges, and not being able to put up targets and all the restrictions on, I believe federal land in Arizona, recently published?
Plus of course, what happens when, in this case and anti gun governor/legislature comes into power? Do you want them telling you when, where and how you can shoot? Or if you can at all? Not me.
“Dumb idea” pretty much sums it up. Sounds like some well intentions, but not well thought through. Unless they were thinking about 20 minutes away from my place. 😉