FLASH – ACTION NEEDED

Please read this because we need your help, right now.

I haven’t told you about HB 150, to exempt recreational activities from liability in Montana. We’ve been trying to get shooting ranges and hunting activities exempted from liability (except for gross negligence) for years now.

Rep. Dee Brown (R-Hungry Horse) has had bills for this in at least three sessions. I’ve scrapped to make sure shooting activities were included in the bill, along with a long list of other recreational endeavors. That bill has not passed until this session when Dee introduced HB 150. It includes “target shooting, hunting … ” You can read the whole bill HERE if you like.

I didn’t pester you about HB 150 because it seemed to be doing fine and it was not strictly on the MSSA agenda. Besides, I was afraid I’d maxed you out with messages about our primary legislative issues.

However, HB 150 is on the verge of crashing. How and why?

The Governor’s attorney is encouraging the Governor to invoke an “amendatory veto” (yes, the Governor can do that in Montana) to include some state entities in the liability exemption. That’s a problem because the Montana Constitution requires a 2/3 vote of the House and Senate to exempt any governmental entity from liability. If the Governor asserts this amendatory veto as proposed, it will likely cause HB 150 to die.

What’s at stake? Insurance for shooting ranges! If you use a range in Montana, you pay for liability insurance. Your range operators will tell you that range insurance is getting VERY hard to find, and EXPENSIVE. We’ve hoped that HB 150 would bring insurance availability up and costs down.

So, please, contact the Governor and ask him to sign HB 150 WITHOUT AMENDMENT.

There are several ways to get a message to the Governor:

Phone – 406-444-3111 / Fax – 406-444-5529

Online message form: http://governor.mt.gov/contact/commentsform.asp

I urge you to send a message to the Governor tonight (Thursday) or tomorrow asking him to sign HB 150 without amendment!

Thanks loads,

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