MONTANA SHOOTING SPORTS ASSOCIATION
2017 LEGISLATIVE ISSUES
2016 LEGISLATIVE CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE
(Return by April 8, 2016)
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 upgrade 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); 4) clarify that
any elector is qualified to seek the office of sheriff; and 5)
reserve essential law enforcement powers to the sheriff at the
county level.
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( )
Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
2. Rights upon release from custody. Prosecutors
routinely demand, and some judges allow, that an accused 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 a 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. DRAFT bill language
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( )
Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
3. Statute of limitations for second trial. There
is no statute of limitations for murder. A prosecutor may
prosecute a suspect forever. This is necessary for possible
cold case resolution, and in the event new evidence turns up.
However, once a prosecutor prosecutes someone who admits taking a
life but argues that it was self defense (not an accident, alibi,
insanity, or other defense), and if the prosecutor gets a hung jury
(not unanimous for conviction or acquittal), then there should be a
time limitation at that point for retrial of the accused. MSSA
proposes that a prosecutor have no more than one year to
re-prosecute a person who has claimed self defense to get a hung
jury in an initial trial. For the first trial, the prosecutor
will have conducted all the investigation, gathered all the
evidence, consulted with the experts, and refined the
arguments. All of that is already done. At this point,
the accused person needs to know that there is some light at the end
of the prosecutorial tunnel - that there is some fixed date after
which the defender is free from the sword of prosecution.
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( )
Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
4. Montana School Safety Act. K-12 school safety
is entirely dependent on a policy prohibiting firearms in schools,
and the laughable theory that a madman or terrorist will respect and
comply with that paper policy. Police can only provide
follow-up coverage, perhaps clean-up. In an active shooter
incident, it will take police 10 to 30 minutes, or more, after the
first 911 call to respond, organize, and perform any meaningful
interdiction. Meanwhile, absolutely nothing currently in place
will stop the madman or terrorist bent on mass murder. The
Montana School Safety Act would allow properly-trained and licensed
teachers to possess a concealed firearm at school in order to be
able to mount an effective response to a madman or terrorist before
our children are needlessly slaughtered. Critics may say that
we cannot trust teachers with firearms. Any teachers who
cannot be trusted with a simple firearm shouldn't be trusted with
our children. http://montanaschoolsafetyact.org/Initiativetext.html
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( )
Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
5. Informing the Montana Supreme Court. In State
v. Cooksey, the Montana Supreme Court (MSC) held that a 2009
law passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor
was not needed and made no change in law, so it could be ignored,
this notwithstanding the principle that the Legislature does no idle
acts. For a great explanation of this, see Justice Nelson's
dissent in Cooksey. MSSA proposes to clarify the language of
the 2009 law to inform the MSC that the Legislature intends to
actually make an enforceable change in law. http://leg.mt.gov/bills/2015/billhtml/HB0388.htm MSC Opinion in State v. Cooksey,
including Justice Nelson's dissent.
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( )
Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
6. Prohibit enforcement of new federal gun laws by Montana
public employees. Every week there is talk of a new
federal gun control bill, to limit magazine capacity, to outlaw
semi-auto rifles, to ban common bullets, to limit the number of
firearms a person may own, and many more. The principle has
already been established by the U.S. Supreme Court (Printz v. US)
that the federal government may not commandeer state and local
government employees to implement federal programs. We propose
that Montana public employees be prohibited by state law from
enforcing, or assisting to enforce, any federal gun laws that are
not already in effect. http://leg.mt.gov/bills/2015/billhtml/HB0203.htm
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( )
Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
7. Allow safe travel to work and employee property right
inside private vehicles. Employees have a property right
to what they choose to carry in their vehicles, whether Bibles,
newspapers, or firearms. Employees also have a constitutional
right to be equipped to provide for their own personal protection
when traveling to and from work. However, many private
employers have made it a termination offense for an employee to have
a firearm locked in the employee's vehicle if that vehicle is parked
in a company parking lot. Such employers assume no
responsibility for employee safety during travel to and from
work. We propose that employers be prohibited from firing
employees only because that employee has a firearm locked in a
privately owned vehicle in a company parking lot. This bill
would require that any such firearms also be out of sight from
outside the vehicle. http://leg.mt.gov/bills/2013/billhtml/HB0571.htm
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( )
Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
8. “Prohibited Places.” There is a
badly-conceived statute at 45-8-328 to regulate "prohibited
places." This law allows anyone to carry a firearm openly in
the listed places but prohibits those who have taken training, had a
background check, obtained a concealed weapon permit from their
sheriff from exercising their CWP in these “prohibited
places.” We propose that this archaic and bad law be corrected
to allow trained and sheriff-certified and permitted citizens to be
exempt from these historic “prohibited places” where anyone may now
carry openly. http://leg.mt.gov/bills/2015/BillHtml/HB0371.htm
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( )
Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
9. University system gun bans - “campus carry.”
The people of Montana have reserved from government interference the
right to keep or bear arms in the Montana Constitution. The
Montana university system is a government entity. The Montana
Constitution gives the Board of Regents broad authority to manage
the affairs of the U. system, but it gives the Board NO authority
whatsoever to suspend, amend or abolish the Constitution and the
rights the people have reserved to themselves from government
interference. We propose a bill that withdraws all authority
from the Board of Regents to restrict firearms on U. system
campuses, and then gives back to the U. system narrowly-tailored
authority to adopt certain restrictions that are sensible and also
defensible under recent federal (Heller and McDonald)
and state (Colorado, Oregon and Utah) court cases. http://leg.mt.gov/bills/2015/billhtml/SB0143.htm
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( )
Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
10. 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. http://www.SheriffsFirst.net
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( )
Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
11. Harmonizing concealed weapon permit (CWP) requirements
- “permitless carry”. Since 1991, a CWP has not been
required for a law-abiding person to carry a concealed weapon in
99.4% of Montana - outside the limits of cities or towns. With
over two decades of experience that not requiring CWPs for nearly
all of Montana has not created any problems, we propose a bill to
harmonize the law so a permit will no longer be required for a law
abiding person to carry a concealed weapon in the remaining small
6/10ths of 1% of Montana, inside cities and towns. We intend
to leave the permitting process in place, so citizens who desire
them may still obtain CWPs for travel to other states that recognize
Montana CWPs, and for firearm purchases at gun stores under the
federal Brady Law. This change would exclude criminals from
applicability - it would still be illegal for criminals to carry
concealed weapons. The current system is effectively "coat
control." That is, if wearing a firearm inside city limits, a
person my not also wear a coat (that could cover the firearm)
without a government permit. It is pretty nonsensical in
Montana to prohibit wearing a coat without government permission. http://leg.mt.gov/bills/2015/billhtml/HB0298.htm
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( )
Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
12. Clarify authority of school boards for firearms
violations. An underreported tragedy in Montana is the
number of students who have been disciplined, many expelled, for
forgetting that their hunting rifle was locked in their vehicle,
usually from a weekend hunt. When such a condition occurs in a
school parking lot, ill-informed administrators usually tell
reviewing school boards (incorrectly) that the board has no choice
but to expel offending students because of mandatory federal
law. However, unknown to these poorly-informed administrators,
federal law on the subject specifically excludes from consideration
any firearm locked in a vehicle in a school parking lot. About
450 Montana high school students have been expelled, and had their
academic aspirations ruined for life, over this issue. We
propose a bill to clarify for uninformed administrators and
misinformed school boards that firearms locked in a student vehicle
does not mandate expulsion, but that school boards have full
discretion to apply discipline as needed and appropriate to the
ingredients of the incident. This bill would NOT deprive
school boards of tools to deal with genuine safety problems, but
would clarify that firearms locked in vehicles do not MANDATE
student expulsion. http://leg.mt.gov/bills/2015/billhtml/HB0320.htm
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( )
Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
13. Home Guard. Expand upon existing laws
establishing the Montana Home Guard to specify organization,
mission, duties, responsibilities and control. http://leg.mt.gov/bills/2015/billhtml/SB0130.htm
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( )
Support( ) Be Neutral( ) Oppose( )
14. 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 Montana people 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 2017 legislative session, regardless of any FWP resistance to
that level of funding.
I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( )
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 24, 2016. Any candidates with Primary Election
challenges MUST have their CQ returned electronically, and no later
than 5PM, Monday, April 8, 2016, 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 helping to provide us
information about your views on issues important to MSSA members.
Please return questionnaire to mssa@mtssa.org (best) or MSSA, P.O.
Box 4924, Missoula 59806.
Any additional comments may be added here or attached: