HJ 14 tomorrow – HB 246 & 228 soon

HJ 14, about guns in National Parks, is scheduled for Second Reading in the Senate tomorrow, Saturday, 3/28. HJ 14 expresses the support of Montana for the recent change in Department of Interior regulation allowing people to carry concealed weapons for self defense in National Parks, in ways consistent with the laws of the state where the Park is located. The Brady Gang has filed suit in federal court to block those regulations, a D.C. federal judge has issues a temporary injunction blocking the regs, and the NRA has intervened in the lawsuit and has appealed the injunction. The NRA has little confidence that the DoI of Obama will aggressively defend the rule change by the DoI of Bush.

HJ 14 also urges the Montana Attorney General to intervene in this lawsuit to protect the interests of Montanans. HJ 14 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote – Democrats voting against.

So, if you’d like to see HJ 14 pass, send messages to your senator and/or other senators asking them to please support HJ 14. It’s about self defense. Opponents argue that people carrying concealed weapons in Parks will use their concealed weapons to become poachers, and that wildlife in Parks will become at risk. They also argue that Parks are relatively safe, and people should depend on Park rangers to protect them. We say that of all the people killed in Parks by two or four-legged predators, 100% of them are dead.

Here is the Senate Roster, and here is the Online message form.

HB 246, Montana-made guns, will probably be scheduled for Second Reading in the Senate on Monday.

HB 228, self defense, will probably be scheduled for Second Reading on Tuesday or Wednesday. I’ll get separate alerts our about each of these as soon as I can confirm their schedules. We will need a HUGE PUSH to get messages to legislators about these two bills, especially HB 228.

Stay tuned.

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