By Paul Lathrop | Contributing Editor
Update: A bill in the Montana House of Representatives that would bring constitutional carry to The Treasure State looks to move forward.
Rep. Seth Berglee introduced HB 102 late last year. As the Montana Legislature went into full swing this week, the bill that would remove the requirement to have a concealed carry permit in most areas of the state has been assigned to the Judiciary Committee. It has already received a hearing and is gaining co-sponsors.
Unlike most legislation, the constitutional carry bill is very clearly written and is easily understandable. Here are the first three sections of the bill:
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MONTANA:
NEW SECTION. Section 1. Purpose. The purpose of [sections 1 through 11] is to enhance the safety of people by expanding their legal ability to provide for their own defense by reducing or eliminating government-mandated places where only criminals are armed and where citizens are prevented from exercising their fundamental right to defend themselves and others.
NEW SECTION. Section 2. Legislative intent. It is the intent of the legislature to reduce or remove provisions of law that limit or prohibit the ability of citizens to defend themselves by restricting with prior restraint the right to keep or bear arms that the people have reserved to themselves in the Montana constitution, and to further establish that the right to defense of a person’s life, liberty, or property is a fundamental right.
NEW SECTION. Section 3. Legislative findings. The legislature declares and finds as follows:
(1) Nowhere in Article X, section 9(2)(a), of the Montana constitution is any power granted to amend, suspend, alter, or abolish the Montana constitution, nor is any power granted to affect or interfere with the rights the people have reserved to themselves specifically from interference by government entities and government actors in Article II of the Montana constitution.
(2) The schools and the Montana university system were created and are controlled by the Montana constitution and the land and buildings occupied by schools and the university system are public property and not private property and are therefore clearly government entities.
(3) Any significant prohibition upon the possession of firearms at or on the various campuses of the Montana university system calls into question the rights that the people have reserved to protect themselves from government interference under Article II, section 12, of the Montana constitution.
(4) Zones where guns are prohibited provide an increased risk to the health and safety of citizens because these zones create an unreasonable expectation of government-provided safety, while that safety cannot be provided or ensured.
(5) In District of Columbia v. Heller, 554 U.S. 570 (2008), and McDonald v. City of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010), the United States supreme court affirmed that the second amendment to the United States constitution reserves to individuals the fundamental right to keep and bear arms for self-defense and is applicable as a restriction upon state and local governments and all political subdivisions of state and local government through the 14th amendment to the United States constitution.
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Note that in Section 3, The legislation directly points out that the Montana University System is not to be considered a “gun-free zone.”
Open carry is currently legal without a permit in most areas of the state, and this bill would make concealed carry legal without a permit in the same areas.
The legislation does carve out the normal federal gun-free zone exceptions, exceptions for prohibited persons, and states that property owners can prohibit firearms on their property.
The House has until Feb. 27 to pass the bill and send it to the Senate for consideration.
TGM reached out to the Montana Shooting Sports Association and spoke with Gary Marbut, the President of the association.
“Although I understand the term Constitutional Carry is commonly understood,” Marbut said, “we don’t use that here in Montana. The reason is because our right to keep and bear arms is secured in Article 2 Section 12 of the Montana Constitution. That declaration of right has some antiquated language that was first in our Territorial Constitution in 1884 that declares that the right does not apply to carrying concealed weapons. That was a cultural thing in 1884 where they felt if you were a manly man you wore your gun outside your pants where everybody could see it. And they didn’t want to extend the right to keep and bear arms to carrying concealed weapons. We are still saddled with that language in our constitution, therefore we cannot call concealed carry a constitutional right, and therefore constitutional carry isn’t a good fit for Montana in terms of terminology.”
“We have had a permitless carry in 99.4 percent of Montana since 1991,” he added. “That is outside the limits of the cities.
“Our intent with this bill is to extend that 30-year-old privilege to people inside city limits to make the last six-tenths of one percent permitless carry,” he stated.
