March 7, RKBA week in Montana upcoming

A statute enacted by the Legislature in 1991 designates the first full week in March as the week to celebrate our RKBA in Montana. That week begins on March 7th. Here’s the actual statue.

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.

You might be thinking about what might be done to celebrate this week. Since the Legislature is in session, there has been some talk of a rally in Helena. If that were to happen, it would have to be organized by others because I’m absolutely swamped with MSSA’s legislative agenda.

You might also think about holding a local event for RKBA celebration.

FYI, the MSSA Annual Meeting will be in Helena per MSSA Bylaws on the first Saturday in March, March 5th. We will announce more detail as the date approaches.

In case you’re interested, I’ll paste below the story of how 1-1-224 became a law in Montana.

Best wishes,

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

Celebration of RKBA and Montana’s hunting heritage

In 1991, I was in the State Capitol lobbying for our successful “shall-issue” concealed weapon permit bill. It was difficult to get the attention of legislators because there was a tremendous controversy in the Legislature over whether or not Montana should adopt Martin Luther King Day as a paid state holiday. That was a marginal issue here in Montana because there just aren’t many African-Americans living here. For many legislators, it seemed an issue awfully remote for Montana. But the liberals in the Legislature really wanted the bill to pass, mostly I think to flex their political muscle. That session, we had a Republican governor, but the Democrats controlled the Senate and the House by slim margins. That made for a lot of partisan squabbling.

I had a bit different take on the issue. Considering how very many gun owners (90 percent-plus Montana households) and hunters we have in Montana, it seemed to me that if we could have a day for Dr. King, we ought to have a whole week to celebrate our right to keep and bear arms, and another whole week to celebrate our culture and heritage of hunting.

So, I sat in a chair in the hallway of the Capitol and wrote out two separate bills on a yellow, legal tablet. It was beyond the deadline in the session when individual legislators could introduce new bills, but it was not too late for whole committees to introduce new bills.

I took my two handwritten bill drafts to friends on the House Fish and Game Committee. The House F&G Committee loved my two bills, especially as a salve to a lot of hard feelings over the King holiday battle. So, the House F&G Committee had my two bills quickly drafted in official style, printed and introduced. The two bills were quickly approved by the Committee, flew through the House and Senate. The RKBA bill, HB594, passed the House by 90-7 on Third Reading, and passed the Senate by 45-5 on Third Reading. The Hunting Heritage bill, HB 613, passed the House on Third Reading by 89-9, and passed the Senate on Third Reading by 43-7. Both bills were signed by Governor Racicot, and are now the law in Montana, found at 1-1-224, M.C.A., and 1-1-226, M.C.A.

Public Warning from Montana Gun Group

MISSOULA, MONT. – The Montana Shooting Sports Association (MSSA) warns the public about a culture of secrecy surrounding student expulsions from public high schools in Montana. Over 300 (maybe over 400) Montana students have been expelled since 1996, most for inadvertently leaving hunting rifles locked in student vehicles in school parking lots as recently happened in Columbia Falls.

Operating in a common pattern across Montana, school officials advise parents of to-be-expelled students that school board hearings to finalize expulsion will be closed to the media and public, ostensibly to protect the privacy of the student involved. Parents are led to believe that such privacy closure is required. They are not informed that they can waive privacy and allow media and the public to attend and witness such hearings. This sometimes real concern about student privacy also conveniently allows school officials to hide these too-common expulsions from public awareness – to sweep this common practice under the school rug.

“School officials almost always claim their hands are tied by law,” MSSA President Gary Marbut commented, “and they have no choice but to expel students.” But, Marbut explained, this claim is simply not correct. State law allows discipline for these cases to be determined on a case-by-case basis, and federal law exempts from enforcement any firearm locked inside a vehicle on school property. “The hang ‘em high misapplication of the law gets so cloaked in secrecy that the public is prevented from knowing how widespread this abuse is” Marbut said.

MSSA asks parents and students to spread the word that parents clearly may waive student privacy if they wish, allowing them to pack the expulsion hearing room with media, friends and members of the public in order to shed some daylight on this secretive expulsion practice by education officials. Students will usually benefit from public exposure of these instances, such as the recent one in Columbia Falls, where students are forced to an expulsion hearing and traumatized over conduct that is actually protected under the federal Gun Free Schools Act. The public needs to know which school board members tolerate such institutionalized abuse by school officials.

MSSA also encourages parents of any high school students expelled for having a hunting arm in a vehicle on school property to contact MSSA at 549-1252 or mssa@mtssa.org.

A Place For Zero Tolerance

In some media stories, administrators of Columbia Falls High School (CFHS) are whining about outsiders meddling in “their” business, and are trying to recast themselves as victims.

These are the same administrators who suspended 16-year-old honor roll student and student council member Demari DeReu and poised her for possible expulsion from school because she volunteered to officials that she had inadvertently left her hunting rifle unloaded, cased and locked in the trunk of her car in the school parking lot.

A principle of a high school in another small town in Montana emailed me saying that the same sort of incident happens occasionally at his school. He asks the student to take the vehicle home and remove the firearm, or to simply move the vehicle off school property for the day, and please remember to never bring a gun to school again. This principal reports that his approach saves the hassle and expense of assembling the figurative firing squad for the student as Columbia Falls officials did, and that he does not get repeat offenders just because he uses some common sense.

Clearly, the officials at CFHS could have handled the incident with Demari differently and better. For example, they could have allowed Demari to make a quick trip home to leave her rifle there. She asked for that opportunity. Instead, school officials showed a remarkable lack of common sense by employing the knee-jerk response of immediately suspending Demari and throwing her into an expulsion hearing by the School Board, a response NOT required by law.

School officials claim their “hands are tied” because of the provisions of the federal Gun Free Schools Act. This is just a dodge by those bullying officials to avoid taking responsibility for their misconduct. The GFSA says, “Nothing in this section shall apply to a firearm that is lawfully stored inside a locked vehicle on school property, …”

It is exactly because the conduct of school officials was so outrageously lacking common sense and so inappropriate for our Montana culture that such situations invite – beg for – outside intervention. An episode as rude as this needs a very bright light shining on it.

As the School Board unravels this mess fueled by school officials, perhaps the Board will consider making common sense a required attribute for administrative personnel at CFHS. And, the School Board should not allow school officials to duck responsibility with the lie that their “hands are tied” by federal law, but should hold them responsible for unwarranted injury to an innocent person and for deviously trying to dodge personal responsibility.

Montana people should have zero tolerance for school officials who display such lack of common sense. School Board members ought to be replaced who refuse to hold their employee school officials responsible for this fiasco.

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

Montana Honor Student Faces Expulsion For Having Hunting Rifle Locked In Trunk

Outrage in Flathead County, Montana!

Outrage is right!

Sixteen-year-old Demarie DeReu is an honor roll student, a member of the Columbia Falls (Montana) High School Student Council and a varsity cheerleader. Although she has no intent to break any rules or laws, or harm anyone, Demarie is at risk of having her college education derailed and maybe even being identified forever as a domestic terrorist.

Why? Demarie went hunting over Thanksgiving with family and friends. She forgot that her unloaded hunting rifle was cased and locked in the trunk of her car. When she arrived at school, she parked in the school parking lot because to park anywhere else is an expulsion offense at CFHS. Upon hearing that the “contraband dog” was to be working the school parking lot, Demarie remembered her unloaded hunting rifle secured in the trunk of her car AND she voluntarily informed school officials.

Next monday, December 13, at 6 PM, Demarie will face her expulsion hearing before the local school board. She will possibly have her life derailed because a bunch of school idiots insist that she must be subject to an irrational, “zero tolerance” policy about guns in schools that does not countenance lack of bad intent. The theory that people with malice will be intimidated into good conduct if people without malice are punished in lieu of them is idiocy at its finest.

At the upcoming hearing, education officials will tell school board members that they have no choice – that state law and good gamesmanship require the school board to levy harsh and record-destroying punishment against Demarie. They will be wrong!

The controlling Montana law about this is 20-5-202, M.C.A., which says about expulsion for bringing guns “to school,” “… the trustees may authorize the school administration to modify the requirement for expulsion of a student on a case-by-case basis.” Further, “to school” is not defined in 20-5-2-202, but is at 45-8-361, M.C.A. as “… in a school building.” Demarie’s hunting rifle was cased and locked in the trunk of her car in the parking lot, but not “in a school building.”

What can you do about this outrage?

Forward this message to every gun owner you know, in Flathead County, in Montana, or elsewhere.

Send messages to school officials and school board members. Use your own words and be polite. Remember, they think they wear white hats, even if you don’t think so. It IS okay to say you feel very strongly about this, but no profanity and no name-calling, please.

School Dist 6, 501 6th Ave W. Columbia Falls, MT 59912
406-892-6550

Mike Nicosia Superintendent mnicosia@sd6.k12.mt.us
Alan Robbins Principal arobbins@sd6.k12.mt.us
Scott Gaiser Asst. Principal sgaiser@sd6.k12.mt.us

School board Members
Jill Rocksund jrocksund@sd6.k12.mt.us
Dean Chisholm dchisholm@sd6.k12.mt.us
Barbara Riley briley@sd6.k12.mt.us
Darrell Newby dnewby@sd6.k12.mt.us
Gail Pauley gpauley@sd6.k12.mt.us
Jim Henjum jhenjum@sd6.k12.mt.us
Larry Wilson lwilson@sd6.k12.mt.us
Scott Emmerich semmerich@sd6.k12.mt.us

Copy to the local newspaper. The local daily newspaper would very much like to receive a copy of whatever you send to these folks. Please copy the Kalispell Daily Interlake at:
editor@ dailyinterlake.com

Email suggestions. For your emails, I suggest a Subject line of: “Free Demarie DeReu”

In addition to whatever else you recommend to administration and school board members, I suggest you include the following:

1) Demarie DeReu should be given no more than a verbal warning that she should not in the future pack her hunting rifle to school (I think she’s learned that by now);

2) Demarie DeReu should be given an award for being honest and volunteering to school officials about the unloaded and cased hunting rifle locked in the trunk of her car;

3) Demarie DeReu should be held out as an example to other students for her participation in essential wildlife management in Montana; and

4) That when the Legislature considers education funding in the upcoming legislative session, legislators will consider the outcome of this case as an example of how schools are using taxpayer resources in Montana.

Show up. Finally, if you are in Flathead County or within driving distance, gather all of your friends and show up at the CFHS school board hearing next Monday, 12/13/2010. Better yet, show up at the CFHS at 5PM with picket signs that say “Free Demarie DeReu.” There ought to be 1,000 of you there!! Organize!! Show up!!

Thanks loads for your help with this.

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

Lawsuit Over Montana-made Guns Goes to Next Judicial Level

MISSOULA, MONT. – In MSSA v. Holder, the lawsuit to validate the Montana Firearms Freedom Act (MFFA), plaintiff Montana Shooting Sports Association announced today that it is now free to take this lawsuit to the next judicial level, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

MSSA president Gary Marbut commented, “We’ve believed all along that the federal District Court cannot grant the relief we request. We seek to overturn a half-century of bad precedent. Only the U.S. Supreme Court can do that. In that light the pending dismissal by the District Court means little except that we are now free to move to the next step of the process.” Read more

Montana Shooting Sports Association Wins “Affiliate of the Year” Award

Dear MSSA Friends,

I have just returned from the national, annual, Gun Rights Policy Conference (GRPC). This event has been hosted each year for 25 years by the Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. Each year it is held at a different location in the U.S., this year at the Hyatt Regency hotel at the San Francisco (California) airport, on the edge of the Bay, south of and outside of San Francisco. Read more

Gun Safety class scheduled for October 17th

Gun Safety for Personal Protection and
Concealed Weapon Permits Course
Sunday, October 17th
(for immediate release, September 22, 2010)

MISSOULA – A course entitled “Gun Safety for Personal Protection and Concealed Weapon Permits” will be hosted in Missoula by the Montana Shooting Sports Association and taught by Gary Marbut on Sunday, October 17th. This one-day, self defense course will focus on safe handling, storage and use of handguns suitable for personal protection, selecting a personal firearm, issues of personal protection, allowable use of lethal force, concealed weapon permits, kids and gun safety, and shooting skills, and will include both classroom and shooting range sessions. Graduates will receive a credential qualifying them to apply for concealed weapon permits under Montana law. The class will begin at 9:00 AM, and finish about 4:00 PM. Class size is limited to the first 20 registrants and preregistration and pre-class study are required. Tuition is $90 per student. Students should be 16 years or older. For further information or to register, call 549-1252 or email gary@marbut.com.
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Note: If you wish to register, I need Name, U.S. Mail address, and a contact phone number!!

Note 2: If you’re already taken this class, please forward this to others you know who may be interested.

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

Montana Firearms Freedom Act Suffers Setback

The Montana Firearms Freedom Act has suffered a setback in the plaintiffs’ attempt at declaratory judgment in order that the state can manufacture and sell, within the bounds of the state, firearms and accessories, without undergoing the scrutiny of the Federal Government.

Attorney General Eric Holder has filed in Montana court for dismissal on the grounds that “lack of subject matter jurisdiction and failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted”.

In an effort to get MSSA v. Holder into a courtroom in order that declaratory judgment could be rendered, Judge Jeremiah C. Lynch granted dismissal on the grounds claimed by the defendant. Read more

MSSA v. Holder – hearing transcript available

Several of you have inquired about a transcript for the hearing in our lawsuit to validate the principles of the Montana Firearms Freedom Act.

The transcript for the 7/15 hearing on the U.S. Motion to Dismiss in MSSA v. Holder is now posted to the FirearmsFreedomAct.com Website at:
http://firearmsfreedomact.com/updates/MSSA%20-%20Transcript%20of%20Proceedings%20RE%20Hearing%20on%20Mx%27s%20-%20071510.pdf

or
( HERE)

If you wish to navigate to it, go to the FFA Website, click on Montana Lawsuit Updates on the right column, and from there scroll down to the section on the Motion to Dismiss.

Best wishes,

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

Montana Gun Group Releases Candidate Grades, Endorsements

MISSOULA – The Montana Shooting Sports Association (MSSA) today released its grades and endorsements for candidates for the Montana Legislature. MSSA has posted its just-released candidate grades and endorsements at:
http://www.progunleaders.org/MSSA2010Grades/

MSSA is the primary political action organization for gun owners and hunters in Montana and has gotten 54 pro-gun and pro-hunting bills through the Montana Legislature in the past 25 years. (See MSSA Successes.) MSSA has been evaluating, grading and endorsing candidates, and publicizing those grades for 20 years as well. Unlike some groups that drift onto the scene only prior to elections to give cover to candidates weak on gun issues, MSSA is active in Montana throughout each year. Read more

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