Dear MSSA Friends,

I thought you might want to know what sort of Candidate Questionnaire MSSA is sending out to candidates who have filed for the Montana Legislature.

This will also give you an idea about what may be on MSSA's legislative agenda for the next legislative session beginning in January of 2003.

Eventually we will be rating candidates based on voting records of incumbents and responses to this candidate questionnaire by any who respond.

If any gun rights organizations want to learn more about how the Montana Shooting Sports Association integrates this candidate questionnaire into their highly-successful legislative process, identify your organization and your position with the organization in an email to MSSA president, Gary Marbut, at [email protected], and ask for further information.

Best wishes,

Gary

Montana Shooting Sports Association
P.O. Box 4924
Missoula, Montana 59808

March 26, 2002

Dear Legislative Candidate,

Thank you for being willing to serve the people of Montana in the Legislature. We appreciate your sacrifice and commitment.

MSSA is the primary organization asserting the rights and prerogatives of gun owners and hunters in Montana. MSSA has achieved passage of about 30 bills in the last 15 years.

http://www.mtssa.org/successes.phtml

Pasted below is the electronic version of our 2002 Candidate Questionnaire. It contains explanations about the issues we will have before the Legislature next session.

Please, take a few minutes to tell us what your positions are on these issues that we will be pursuing next session.

Thank you VERY much for completing and returning this questionnaire.

You will be getting this questionnaire BOTH in email and on paper via smail. If you prefer to deal with the paper copy, you can just trash this and your paper copy will arrive soon. If you're an electronic kind of person, you are welcome to respond by returning this email version, and disregard the paper when it shows up in your mail box.

Cordially yours,

Gary Marbut,
president Montana Shooting Sports Association
549-1252

MONTANA SHOOTING SPORTS ASSOCIATION 2003 LEGISLATIVE ISSUES
2002 LEGISLATIVE CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE

Please mark an X for the response that best describes your position on each issue.

1. A previous Legislature required hunters and anglers to give their Social Security Numbers in order to obtain a hunting or fishing license. This was done, ostensibly, to aid in collection of overdue child support. We believe this violates the right to privacy guaranteed by the Montana Constitution. The 2001 Legislature made removal of SSNs from hunting and fishing licenses contingent upon federal permission. The federal government has declared that they will not give this permission. State social service employees say Montana will lose federal money if SSNs are not collected on all licenses. However, there are still licenses for which Montana does not require SSNs, and we haven't even been threatened with loss of any federal money for noncompliance. Further, at the beginning of last session, FWP did a telephone survey of other state fish and game agencies, and reported that 17 other states do not require collecting SSNs to hunt and fish. We propose changing the law so that a SSN is NO LONGER required to get a hunting or fishing license - no contingencies or federal permission.

I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Neutral( ) Oppose( )

2. Because of pressure by those opposed to hunting, some states are putting a right to hunt and fish into their constitutions as a protected and reserved individual right. We propose to amend the Montana Constitution to put the right of Montana people to harvest wild game into Article II, the Declaration of Rights. We will specify IN the constitutional language that this right does NOT create a right of trespass on private property. We believe this will be critical to preserving our heritage and culture of hunting and fishing in Montana for out children and grandchildren.

I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Neutral( ) Oppose( )

3. There has been some concern that funds generated from sale of hunting licenses have been used to heavily subsidize non-hunting programs. We believe that if non-hunting programs are not self-supporting, they should be paid for by taxpayers out of the general fund, and hunters should not be required to pay for them through license purchases. We believe that the monies paid by hunters ought to be used to foster huntable wildlife and hunting-related programs. We will offer legislation to require that when FWP prepares its biennial budget for presentation to the FWP Commission, the budget must propose using hunting income only for hunting programs, that when the FWP Commission approves a FWP budget to advance to the Legislature, it must propose using hunting income only for hunting programs, and that when FWP spend hunter license income, it spend that money only on hunting-related programs.

I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Neutral( ) Oppose( )

4. Resolution to delist wolves. There is growing, realistic concern that the rapidly-increasing quantity of large predators in Montana are consuming large amounts of game species, especially the young born each spring, and that Montana could be heading for a population crash in huntable game that could put an end to hunting for all practical purposes. The predator which is increasing in numbers the quickest is the gray wolf, currently listed as an endangered species by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Montana seriously needs to get the USFWS to delist the wolf so we can begin controlling wolf population numbers before wolves eliminate our hunting heritage. We propose a joint resolution of the Legislature calling on the FWS to delist the gray wolf immediately and turn all management prerogatives over to the state.

I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Neutral( ) Oppose( )

5. Youth hunters free. As a method to encourage more youth hunters, and to make initial hunting easier for youth hunters, we propose making a youth (up to 16) hunter's first conservation license, first deer tag and first elk tag FREE, for one year only.

I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Neutral( ) Oppose( )

6. Removing "prohibited places" from the concealed weapon permit law. In 1991 Montana revised the concealed weapon permit law to make permits available to any law abiding citizen who meets fixed criteria under the law. Since changing the law, several thousand permits have been issued in Montana. There is NO evidence that any permittee has had an accidental or deliberate misadventure with a firearm. Especially, no permittee has committed a crime using their permit. Despite initial fears of problems with these armed citizens, there have been NO problems. Through a quirk of the legislative process, a provision was added to the original legislation to make it illegal for permit holders to exercise their permits in banks, bars or public buildings. This restriction is only effective inside city limits, and there is NO history of problems concerning permit holders having misused firearms in these types of places outside of cities. Under separate statutes, it is illegal to exercise a permit while "under the influence" of alcohol, and cities are allowed to prohibit carrying firearms to public buildings and assemblies. We propose to eliminate that law making it illegal to exercise a concealed weapon permit in a bank, bar or public building inside city limits, so the law would have the same effect both inside and outside city limits. We would leave in place existing laws making carrying "under the influence" illegal, and allowing cities to prohibit carrying weapons to public buildings and assemblies.

I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Neutral( ) Oppose( )

7. Predator control for game management. There is some question in game management circles about whether predators should be controlled to preserve populations of game most commonly hunted, or whether predator management ought to have other goals, such as allowing a "natural balance" to occur, whereby predators would consume all available game animals. We propose to clarify this discussion with a bill requiring that the primary goal of predator management should be to preserve adequate populations of those game animals most commonly hunted by Montana citizens, such as deer, elk, moose, sheep, goats and antelope.

I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Neutral( ) Oppose( )

8. Require Lautenberg effect notification by courts. The federal "Lautenberg Amendment" makes it a federal felony for a person to possess a firearm if they were ever convicted of a crime of "domestic violence". There have been many problems with this law. First, it is the first gun law to retroactively criminalize conduct. And, crimes of "domestic violence" are very poorly defined, and the federal authorities are interpreting this very loosely. When a person pleads guilty to any charge involving an altercation at a residence, or if they fail to protest standard protective orders commonly issued upon divorce action filings, it is quite possible that the subjects of these actions might be unaware that they may be losing their ability to legally possess firearms forever. When the plea agreements were struck in the past, and when the divorce-pending restraining orders were issued, the courts have never been in the habit of warning defendants that they would be signing away their constitutional right to keep and bear arms for life. We propose a bill that would require a court to inform a defendant before any action that would trigger Lautenberg that they were about to do something that would cause them to lose their ability to possess firearms forever.

I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Neutral( ) Oppose( )

9. Increase shooting range funding to meet demand. Montana has had a very successful shooting range funding program for over a decade. This program uses hunter license fees to help local clubs establish or improve shooting ranges. We believe this helps prepare hunters for a quality hunting activity, and is an appropriate use of hunting license income. However, the program is currently being funded for only $180,000 per biennium. We believe this program is so important, and the demand for help building safe and suitable places for people to shoot is so great, that the program should be funded at the level of $250,000 each year.

I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Neutral( ) Oppose( )

10. Resolution to repeal federal magazine limitations. In 1994, an amendment to federal law was offered by Senator Diane Feinstein of California to make it illegal to import or manufacture new for sale to civilians any ammunition feeding devices ("magazines") that hold over ten rounds of ammunition. Feinstein's theory was that if a normally-sane person was allowed to have a magazine that held over ten rounds, it would have such a powerful seductive influence over that person that it would cause them to go to a schoolyard and shoot kids. And, as some supporting politicians have said in supposed agreement, you don't need a machinegun to hunt deer. Still, these "high capacity" magazines are standard fare for the modern handguns and rifles that are designed for personal protection. A lot of common firearms use these magazines, such as the Ruger "Ranch Rifle" in which a high capacity magazine would be very useful for defending newborn calves from coyotes. We propose a resolution calling on Congress to repeal the Feinstein ban on "high capacity" magazines.

I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Neutral( ) Oppose( )

11. Exempt National Guard for liability for civilian use of NG indoor ranges. We have been trying to negotiate civilian use of the several National Guard indoor ranges that exist around the state, that have been built with taxpayer funds, and that are hardly utilized at all by the National Guard. One of the issues to be resolved is that of liability for the state and the NG. Suppose somebody slips on the wet floor entering the range, falls down and injures themselves, and decides to sue. The NG argues that they should not be exposed to liability because they allow civilians to use their ranges. We don't think the liability exposure would be that great, but we don't want to expose the NG to additional liability either. Further, liability insurance for that situation is not affordably available. We propose to reduce this obstacle to NG range use by specifying in state law that civilians who use NG ranges do so at their own risk, and that in return for being able to use NG ranges, they assume any risk for themselves and forego their ability to sue the NG and the state.

I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Neutral( ) Oppose( )

12. Repeal armor-piercing handgun criminal statute. There is an obscure and obsolete law on the books (46-18-224, M.C.A.) that says that if you are involved in an "offense" (undefined - could be running a stop sign) and somebody is injured (undefined - any injury), and you have in your possession a handgun capable of firing ammunition that will penetrate Type IIA body armor used by law enforcement, you may be put in prison for 5 to 25 years. This is obsolete, because it was passed in 1972 when there was a big scare about "armor-piercing ammunition", a scare that never bore fruit. There is no conventional handgun ammunition commercially available that will defeat Type IIA body armor. However, any rifle ammunition will penetrate Type IIA body armor, and there are a few very specialized bolt-action, cut-down rifles that are used for competitive silhouette shooting and hunting, and that are designed to be fired with one hand - the definition of handgun. So, if a person ran a stop sign, somebody were injured slightly, and subject was on his or her way to a shooting match and had in their car an XP101 or a Thompson Contender chambered in any centerfire rifle caliber, they could be imprisoned for 25 years. A law so unnecessary, and capable of such great misapplication should not be on the law books. We propose to repeal this law.

I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Neutral( ) Oppose( )

13. Kids excused from school to hunt. We propose that kids be allowed excused absence from school for up to three days per year to go hunting with a parent or parent-designated adult, and that schools get their ANB funding for those days.

I would: Sponsor( ) Cosponsor( ) Support( ) Neutral( ) Oppose( )

14. Of all the issues above, which three (3) do you think are most important to pursue in the next session of the Legislature?

The foregoing responses are actually my positions on these issues, to the best of my knowledge and at this time.

Candidate Name:

Date:

Office sought:

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 related to firearms and hunting.

Any additional comments here: