(CLICK HERE for MSWord file)
MONTANA SHOOTING SPORTS
ASSOCIATION
2025 LEGISLATIVE ISSUES
2024 LEGISLATIVE CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE
(MUST be returned (received here) by 5PM, March
24, 2024 for any candidate with a Primary challenge)
Please check the response that best describes your position on each
issue.
1. Sheriffs in the Constitution. In some states
the office of sheriff has been effectively abolished, usually by
moving essential powers from sheriffs into the hands of a
bureaucratically-controlled state police force. Shifting power
from a locally elected official into the hands of unelected,
state-level bureaucrats diminishes liberty, damages accountability,
and shifts even more power from people to government. To
prevent this drift in Montana, MSSA proposes a constitutional
referendum to strengthen the language about the office of sheriff in
the Montana Constitution. This new language would: 1)
Establish the office of sheriff as a constitutionally-specified
office; 2) make the office mandatory for each county; 3) require
that the sheriff always be elected (not appointed except to fill a
mid-term vacancy); 4) specify that any elector is qualified to seek
the office of sheriff; 5) clarify that the sheriff is the chief law
enforcement officer in the sheriff's county, and 6) reserve
essential law enforcement powers to the sheriff at the county level.
I would: Support( ) Be Neutral( )
Oppose( )
2. Rights upon release from custody. Prosecutors
routinely demand, and some judges allow, that an
accused-but-innocent (until convicted) person be stripped of
reserved constitutional rights as a condition of release from
custody, EVEN IF abuse of the restricted right had nothing to do
with the alleged offense for which the person was in custody.
Should an accused trespasser be prohibited from trial by jury,
should an accused poacher be prohibited from political speech, and
should an embezzler be prohibited from possessing firearms?
MSSA proposes a law that would clarify that an accused person may
not be stripped of a constitutional right as a condition of release
from custody unless abuse of that right was an element of the
offense for which the person was in custody.
I would: Support( ) Be Neutral( )
Oppose( )
3. Non-discrimination over firearms. There are a
number of ways that discrimination against firearms may be rearing
its ugly head. Some lenders and credit or payment processors
are refusing to provide services to entities that manufacture,
distribute or sell firearms. Some insurers may decline to
service firearm-related businesses or firearm owners. Some
private entities with public access may disallow firearms but fail
to offer any actual safety to disarmed people. Some employers
may disallow safe travel to and from work by prohibiting firearms in
employees' private vehicles. All of these are
discriminatory. MSSA proposes legislation to prohibit
discrimination against firearms manufactures, distributors, sellers,
and owners.
I would: Support( ) Be Neutral( )
Oppose( )
4. Power of the Board of Regents. The Board of
Regents has sued to block the campus carry feature of HB 102 from
the 2021 session. The Regents assert that the power given to
them in Article X of the Montana Constitution to manage the affairs
of the university system allows them to ignore the right to keep or
bear arms that the people have reserved to themselves in Article II
of the Constitution. We propose a constitutional referendum to
clarify that the Regents are subject to other parts of the
Constitution and not only Article X, are subject to laws passed by
the Legislature and signed by the Governor, and also to give the
Governor the power to veto any act by the Board of Regents.
I would: Support( ) Be Neutral( )
Oppose( )
5. Sheriffs First - Law Enforcement Cooperation.
Many Montanans, both citizens and people in public office, are
concerned about the lack of accountability of federal officers
conducting law enforcement operations in Montana. In Montana,
we know our county sheriff. He is elected and accountable
locally. We believe the sheriff is the chief law enforcement
officer in the county, and ought to have the tools to implement that
status. MSSA will offer a bill to require federal officers to obtain
the written permission of the local sheriff before conducting an
arrest, search, or seizure in the sheriff’s county. There are
exceptions for federal reservations, Border Patrol, Immigration and
Naturalization Service, close pursuit, when a federal officer
witnesses a crime that requires an immediate response, if the
sheriff or his personnel are under investigation, and other
necessary exceptions. This bill was passed by the Legislature
in 1995, but was vetoed by the Governor.
See: http://www.SheriffsFirst.net
I would: Support( ) Be Neutral( )
Oppose( )
6. Constitutional cleanup. The Montana
Constitution's reservation of the right to keep or bear arms
contains this archaic language from the territorial constitution of
1884, "... but nothing herein contained shall be held to permit the
carrying of concealed weapons." This was a cultural issue in
1884 and was likely copied from the Missouri Constitution of that
time. For Missouri, this was probably a Reconstruction-era,
Jim Crow provision intended to help keep freed slaves disarmed,
defenseless, and subservient. We propose a constitutional
referendum to remove this archaic provision from the Montana
Constitution.
I would: Support( ) Be Neutral( )
Oppose( )
7. Shooting range funding. Montana began using some
hunter license money to make matching grants to develop shooting
ranges in 1989. The program to build safe and suitable places
for Montanans to shoot was put into state law in 1999, as the
Shooting Range Development Program (SRDP). The funds for this
program are approved each legislative session in the appropriations
process for the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks budget.
There are no general tax revenues used for this program, only the
money hunters pay for licenses. The 2007 Legislature
appropriated $1,000,000 for the SRDP. The Legislature
appropriated $600,000 in 2009, and about $650,000 in 2011 and
2013. We ask that $1,000,000 be appropriated to the SRDP in
the 2023 legislative session, regardless of any FWP resistance to
that level of funding.
I would: Support( ) Be Neutral( )
Oppose( )
8. Reinvigorate the Montana Home Guard. One thing
we learned from the incredible fires last summer (other than that we
must do a better job of managing our public lands) is that the
Governor and county sheriff could certainly use a trained and
equipped resource pool of personnel and equipment to draw on, a pool
that is not as expensive as the National Guard is and that is not
subject to federal control as the National Guard is. The
Montana Home Guard is an honored state institution that exists in
law only, but because of the skeletal laws it does not exist in
practice. We recommend legislation that would better define
the nature, mission(s), and organization of the Montana Home Guard,
the units of which would be under the control of and available to
the Governor and county sheriffs. Such units could be medical,
forestry, transportation, communication, or others.
See: http://leg.mt.gov/bills/2015/billpdf/SB0130.pdf
I would: Support( ) Be Neutral( )
Oppose( )
9. Higher education and shooting sports. Montana
produces a number of competitive young shooters way disproportionate
to our population. Many Montana youth accept shooting
scholarships at out-of-state universities because Montana offers no
such programs. MSSA proposes a resolution urging the Board of
Regents to encourage shooting sports and shooting teams at all
institutions of higher education in Montana so that Montana youth
may seek shooting scholarships in Montana. About this proposed
resolution:
I would: Support( ) Be Neutral( )
Oppose( )
10. "Red flag" laws. Some states have considered
or adopted a type of law that has come to be called a "red flag"
law, or in some cases a Risk Protection Order (RPO). Proponents
allege these laws make people safer by allowing police to take
people's guns if there is an allegation that such persons might be
dangerous to themselves or others. Despite possibly good intentions
of proponents, such laws have serious constitutional and practical
problems. The constitutional problems include lack of due
process and violation of property rights and the right to keep or
bear arms. Some practical problems include that such a policy
fails its intended goal because it leaves an allegedly dangerous
person free to find another way to commit the predicted
mayhem. An RPO bill was introduced unsuccessfully in the 2019
Legislature and may be introduced again in 2023. About such a
bill, would you:
I would: ( ) Support ( ) Be neutral
( ) Oppose
11. The cost of self defense. A person who
legitimately defends himself or herself may still be destroyed
financially by an overzealous or careless criminal
prosecution. We propose that if a person is prosecuted for a
crime, claims self-defense successfully and is not convicted, then
the cost of the person's defense must be awarded to the accused by
the court. This would be a claim against the prosecutor's
budget.
I would: Support( ) Be Neutral( )
Oppose( )
12. Oath of office enforcement. All elected officers
and many public officials are required by the Montana Constitution
and Montana law to swear and file an oath to "support, protect and
defend the constitution." Unfortunately, there is no useful
mechanism in Montana law to hold officials accountable to their
oath, once so sworn. Some take their oath seriously.
Others treat it like a theater ticket stub; to be discarded into or
immediately into the trash or immediately dropped on the floor to be
trod upon once access to the theater or office has been
obtained. MSSA proposes a bill to define violation of oath of
office, to spell out one or more processes to hold office-holders
accountable to their oath, and to provide consequences for violation
of oath of office.
I would: Support( ) Be Neutral( )
Oppose( )
The foregoing responses are actually my positions on these issues,
to the best of my knowledge and at this time.
Candidate Signature (electronic signature accepted)
Date:
Candidate printed name
Office sought
NOTE: This Candidate Questionnaire released electronically on
March 11, 2024. Any candidates with Primary Election
challenges MUST have their CQ returned electronically, and no later
than 5PM, Monday, March 24, 2024, for MSSA's candidate evaluations
for the June Primary elections. Thank you.
Thank you for being willing to serve your community and state in
public office, and thank you very much for providing interested
Montana gun owners with information about your views on issues
important to them.
Please return questionnaire to mssa@mtssa.org (best) or MSSA, P.O.
Box 16106, Missoula 59808.
Any additional comments may be added here or attached: