Official
Declaration of Intent for LR-130
Who to Believe
LR-130 was put on the ballot by an act of the Montana Legislature,
House Bill 357, which was passed by both House and Senate.
The "Title" of a bill is a short statement required to express the
Legislature's intent for a bill. Here is the enacted Title
for HB 357:
"An act revising firearms laws to secure the right to keep and
bear arms and to prevent a patchwork of restrictions by local
governments across the state and providing that local
governments may not regulate the carrying of concealed weapons;
providing that the proposed act be submitted to the qualified
electors of Montana; amending sections 7-1-111 and 45-8-351, MCA;
and providing an effective date."
In addition, the Legislature declares its policy objective for HB
357 in the first Section of the bill, which states:
"Section 1. Policy. It is the policy of the state that the
citizens of the state should be aware of, understand, and comply
with any restrictions on the right to keep or bear arms that the
people have reserved to themselves in Article II, section 12, of
the Montana constitution, and that to minimize confusion the
legislature withholds from local governments the power to restrict
or regulate the possession of firearms."
The Montana Attorney General is required by law to craft a "ballot
statement" to summarize the effect of a law change to appear on
the ballot for a public vote. The AG's ballot statement for
LR-130 was reviewed and approved by the Montana Supreme Court and
declares:
"The 2019 Legislature submitted this proposal for a vote. LR-130
generally restricts a county, city, town, consolidated local
government, or other local government unit's authority to regulate
the carrying of firearms. It removes a local government unit’s
power to regulate the carrying of permitted concealed weapons or
to restrict the carrying of unconcealed firearms except in
publicly owned and occupied buildings under the local government
unit’s jurisdiction. It repeals a local government unit’s
authority to prevent or suppress the possession of firearms by
convicted felons, adjudicated mental incompetents, illegal aliens,
and minors. Federal and other state firearm restrictions would
remain unchanged, including for these individuals. Local firearm
ordinances that conflict with LR-130 could not be enforced."
That's it. Those are the official sources explaining what
LR-130 is all about.
Opponents to LR-130 cannot state their true motives for
opposition, to achieve maximum gun control in Montana through
incremental local changes. Montana people would not like
that. Passage of LR-130 will block that gun control
scheme. So, the only recourse for opponents is to try to
confuse the public about what LR-130 will accomplish. They
must claim that LR-130 will have all sorts of bad
consequences. They must craft credible lies about LR-130.
So, the choice is about who to believe. An interested voter
can either believe the Montana Legislature, the Montana Attorney
General, and the Montana Supreme Court, who all agree on one
version of the effects of LR-130. Or, the voter can believe
LR-130 opponents, who are inspired and led by billionaire Michael
Bloomberg and his "Everytown" gun control organization from New
York City. That is the choice for voters about LR-130.
The Montana Shooting Sports Association, the National Rifle
Association, Gun Owners of America, and the Citizens Committee for
the Right to Keep and Bear Arms all recommend that voters VOTE
YES on LR-130.