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"Modwest has done a great job for MSSA!"
--Gary Marbut, MSSA President
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December 31, 2005
Montana Shooting Sports Association
2005 - Year in Review
During 2005, MSSA has been actively pursuing issues of concern to gun owners and hunters.
2005 legislative session. While MSSA was busy with the 2005 legislative session, from January to April, our work on that session actually began in January of 2004 with the formulation of our legislative agenda. That agenda was finalized by the board of Directors at the Annual Meeting in March of 2004. When the candidate filing period ended in March, MSSA sent out candidate questionnaires to all legislative and state-level candidates, based on our legislative agenda for the 2005 session. Based on incumbent candidate voting records and responses to candidate questionnaires, and in consultation with the NRA, MSSA finalized its 2004 candidate ratings and endorsements. MSSA mailed these to all MSSA members, and provided copies to all Montana media. MSSA sent out letters of support to all endorsed candidates, both for the June primary elections, and the November general elections.
Although MSSA saw its most important bills passed by and out of the Montana House, these bills were killed in the Montana Senate. The chief architect of the defeat of MSSA-requested legislation was Senator Mike Wheat (D-Bozeman), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator Wheat made every effort that could possibly be made to kill MSSA bills, both in Committee and on the floor of the Senate.
Before the legislative session, MSSA has requested NRA support for our self-defense bill, a bill similar to one the NRA was then supporting in Florida and about which NRA Ex VP Wayne LaPierre raved in the NRA publications. Director of NRA State and Local Affairs, Randy Kozuch, a D.C. staffer for the NRA, insisted to Montana's NRA State Liaison, Carrie Herbertson, that the NRA would NOT support the Montana bill. A news release about this NRA employee's fiasco was sent electronically to 17,000 media outlets and pro-gun groups and people across the U.S. Feeling the heat, senior NRA staff trumped Kozuch and supported the Montana self defense bill, but too late in the process for NRA support to achieve bill passage.
MSSA also lost its "Made in Montana Guns" bill courtesy of the anti-gun activism of Senator Wheat. This bill was a declaration by the Legislature that any firearm made and retained in Montana is not subject to federal law or regulation based on authority derived from the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.
MSSA president Gary Marbut made 14 trips from Missoula to Helena during the session to support MSSA bills in testimony before legislative committees. As in the previous session, Marbut also organized and taught a Gun Safety for Concealed Weapon Permits class in Helena in April specifically for legislators.
Other MSSA activities
Annual Meeting. MSSA conducted its Annual meeting in Helena on Saturday, March 5th (the Annual Meeting is the first Saturday in March, per MSSA Bylaws). The primary focus of the meeting was the current status of bills before the Legislature and election of officers and directors. New directors Donny Summers of Missoula and Rick Maedje of Fortine were elected to the Board of Directors.
Military brass destruction. MSSA continues to work with the office of Senator Conrad Burns to prevent the destruction of once-fired brass by the U.S. military. During the Clinton administration the Department of Defense was directed to take a number of steps to prevent used military equipment from falling into civilian hands. The Clinton administration was concerned that sealable, metal ammunition containers were being used by anti-government civilians to bury anti-government propaganda and material in backyards across America. That particular bit of paranoia resulted in the military destruction of, and civilian shortage of and price increase for, military surplus ammo cans. The military also began a practice of either shredding used brass, or running it through "popping mills", a partial melting that makes the brass unfit for reloading. This causes brass shortages for home and commercial reloaders, and increased demand and prices for new brass and ammunition. Beginning in February of 2005, MSSA began asking Senator Burns to sponsor legislation to curtail this practice. We're still working on that.
Prairie Dogs. MSSA continues to observe the Montana Prairie Dog Working Group, a collection of public employees, environmentalists and animal rights people who are advocates for protection of Prairie Dogs. Readers may remember that the National Wildlife Federation petitioned the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to designate Prairie Dogs as an endangered species, notwithstanding that there were then thought to be 10 million PDs in the U.S. (figure since revised to over 20 million). In a political move the USFWS declared PDs to be "warranted but precluded", meaning "Prairie Dogs ought to be listed but we're too busy to list them just now", a move designed to push states into adopting protections for PDs that the USFWS could not have made stick under the Endangered Species Act. The game plan to stampede states worked, and 11 states with PD populations adopted protective measures, including Montana. MSSA made a stiff objection to the USFWS, challenging the science and assumptions used to justify the "warranted but precluded" status. Because of congressional support for MSSA's objections, the USFWS dropped PDs from their list for consideration for listing. Since then, PD inventories have confirmed that there are a LOT more PDs in the U.S. than assumed by the USFWS when they designated them as "warranted but precluded". There have also been new reputable studies done disproving other assumptions made upon the USFWS "finding" to justify the designation PDs. The wildlife advocates have also been busy doing their own studies, including one from Wyoming that "proves" that shooting in a PD town causes PDs such emotional distress that they can't breed, resulting in a population crash. The Montana law protecting PDs is set to expire in 2007, and there will be a fight in the 2007 Legislature to make permanent and expand the currently temporary protections. MSSA V.P. John Mercer has joined the Montana Prairie Dog Working Group in order to keep up with their work and direction.
MSSA supports individuals. MSSA has supported several individuals during 2005 who have had run-ins with local authorities over concealed weapons and concealed weapons permits. The situations in which MSSA has become involved are ones in which local authorities misunderstand current laws. In one case an individual was charged with CCW in a remote area after being accosted by a deputy sheriff and Forest Service personnel. The county attorney involved was unaware that a CW permit is not required to legally carry concealed outside the limits of a city or town in Montana.
In another instance, a Hamilton man asked his son to bring him the father's revolver when he came to visit from the state of Washington. The Montana Highway Patrol stopped the son for speeding on I-90 on the Montana side of the Idaho line, in June of 2004. The Patrol officer asked to search the son's car. He agreed if he could have an attorney present. The officer then impounded the car pending a search warrant, had it towed, and required to driver to walk to Superior. The son called his father in Hamilton. Father came and picked up the son. The next day they came back to Superior with an attorney and were able to obtain the car, but the Patrol kept the father's revolver, found in the car. The Patrol refused to return the revolver. Now they say they don't have it. We're working on this for the father.
Glendive shooting range. The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks is looking at possibly closing a shooting range on state land that has been used by the people of the Glendive area for a century. MSSA is working with FWP to address alleged safety issues, and will work with citizens of the community to promote a long-term solution to the shooting needs of the community.
Wolves. MSSA continues involvement with the problems associated with wolf introduction in Montana by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The chief concern is the potential eradication of huntable game species by wolves, or depredation to the point that hunting by people will be curtailed or eliminated. Too much has happened to describe it all here, but MSSA continues its commitment to protect our hunting heritage, culture, and opportunities in Montana.
Pin Shoot. MSSA held its annual, fundraising bowling pin shoot at the Deer Creek Shooting Center near Missoula in late July (always on the fourth Sunday in July). This is the one event MSSA hosts every year to raise much-needed funds for political action. The shoot was successful. Attending shooters had a good time and we even raised some money.
Lawsuit over SSNs on hunting licenses. MSSA will soon file suit against the State of Montana and the Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks, asserting that the requirement for conservation license applicants to provide their SSNs violates the right of privacy the people reserved to themselves in the Montana Constitution. Keep your eyes open for more news about this.
2006 upcoming activities. During 2006, MSSA will become involved in political races, especially races for the Montana Legislature. We will send out Candidate Questionnaires in late March, after the deadline for candidates to file for office. We will be involved in some races before the Primary Election in June, and in more before the General Election in November. We will do everything we can to insure that the Legislature is as pro-gun as possible. We will also host the annual MSSA Great Northern Celebrity Bowling Pin Shoot on the fourth Sunday in July at the Deer Creek Shooting Center in Missoula. This is MSSA's only event to raise funds for political action. Plan to attend.
MSSA Annual Meeting - March 4. The MSSA Annual Meeting is required by the Bylaws to be in Helena on the first Saturday in March of each year. The meeting will begin at 10 AM in Room 152 of the State Capitol building on March 4, 2006. All MSSA Members are invited to attend. All officer positions are up for reelection, and Directors Bob Davies, Joe Balyeat and Rick Maedje will be up for reelection. Bob is a founding Director of MSSA and a former member of the Montana House of Representatives. Joe is currently a member of the Montana Senate. Rick is a current member of the Montana House of Representatives.
MSSA membership. MSSA needs to continue to build membership. Please help recruit your friends to become MSSA members. MSSA and membership information is available on the MSSA Website at www.mtssa.org.
Preparing for the 2007 Legislative Session. The MSSA Board of Directors will decide at the March Annual Meeting what issues will be brought before the 2007 legislative session. In that session, our top priorities will probably be: 1) Our bill from last session to firm up Montana laws relating to self defense, 2) our bill from last session to declare that firearms made and maintained in Montana are not subject to federal laws or regulation based on the interstate commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution, 3) a bill to prohibit confiscation of firearms, as happened after hurricane Katrina in Louisiana, and 4) a resolution asking Congress to prohibit National Parks from restricting possession and use of firearms beyond limitations in state law.
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