MLK Day and the RKBA

Can you believe that Martin Luther King and the Right to Keep and Bear Arms have a connection in Montana? Here’s what it is.

In 1991, I was working the Legislature trying to get MSSA’s shall-issue, concealed weapon permit bill passed. But, it was hard to get the attention of legislators. They were totally engrossed in a fierce partisan fight over whether or not Montana should adopt today as an official state holiday, Martin Luther King Day.

The Democrats were pressing the issue – they controlled both the Senate and the House. Joe Mazurek was President of the Senate (later Attorney General) and Hal Harper (now Governor Schweitzer’s chief policy advisor) was Speaker of the House. The Republicans were smarting and resentful at being steam-rolled over MLK day.

I was frustrated that the Legislature was so distracted that it was nearly impossible to get the attention of legislators to talk about our CWP bill.

I was sitting on a bench in the hallway outside the Senate chambers (maybe sulking) when a thought occurred to me. If we must have a day to celebrate MLK, I thought, we should have a whole danged week to celebrate the Right to Keep and Bear Arms in Montana. So, I pulled out a yellow legal tablet and wrote out a bill for a law to give Montana an official week to celebrate our cherished RKBA.

It was too late in the session for bills to be introduced by individual legislators. I took my hand-written bill draft to a friendly Republican on the Senate Fish and Game Committee. He loved the idea, and Republicans latched onto the idea as a way to get some of their own back from the dominating Democrats and the MLK Day loss. With the help of a gun-friendly Democrat or two on the Committee, the Committee voted to introduce the bill as a “committee bill.”

This bill flew through the Senate and House with essentially no opposition, and was signed into law by Republican Governor Stan Stephens. This law is currently in the statute books as:

1-1-224. Observance of right to keep and bear arms. The week beginning the first Monday in March is an official week of observance to commemorate Montana’s valued heritage of the right of each person to keep and bear arms in the defense of his home, person, or property or in aid of civil power. During this week, all Montanans are urged to reflect on their right to keep and bear arms and to celebrate this right in lawful ways.

So, happy MLK Day to you, and start making your community plans to reflect and celebrate our RKBA on the first Monday in March.

Best wishes,

Gary Marbut, president
Montana Shooting Sports Association
http://www.mtssa.org
author, Gun Laws of Montana
http://www.mtpublish.com

P.S. On the next page of that same yellow legal tablet in 1991, I wrote another bill to give Montana another week to celebrate our heritage of hunting. It passed too.

1-1-226. Official observance of Montana’s hunting heritage. The week beginning the third Monday in September is an official week of observance in Montana to commemorate this state’s valued heritage of hunting game animals. During this week, all Montanans are urged to:
(1) reflect on hunting as an expression of our culture and heritage;
(2) acknowledge that it is our community of sportsmen, sportswomen, and hunters who have made the greatest contributions to the establishment of current game animal populations; and
(3) celebrate this culture and heritage in all lawful ways.