Prohibiting FWP from regulating ammunition

Bill text coming soon.

The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) has earned a reputation for thinking of itself as an 800-pound gorilla. FWP assumes it has authority to do anything the Legislature has not very specifically forbidden under the very general authority of managing wildlife. Recently, FWP presumed to propose a regulation to ban the use of lead shot for bird hunting over thousands of acres of Montana, with no scientific basis offered for the proposal. This ban could well become only the first step in FWP banning all lead-based ammunition, a serious threat to the right to bear arms in Montana. This bill would clarify that FWP has no authority to regulate ammunition type without approval by the Legislature.