Legislature Fails to Deal with SSN/Privacy Special Session Drops Hunting License/SSN Bills

MISSOULA - The Montana special legislative session failed to address sportsmens' concerns about loss of privacy from a law requiring that hunters and anglers give social security numbers to apply for hunting and fishing licenses. Two bills were introduced in the session to address this issue, but both were rejected by the Legislature.

This issue is one that has stirred up the anger of thousands of sportsmen across Montana. The legislative failure to address this issue in the special session leaves I-141, the initiative being circulated by the Montana Shooting Sports Association, as the only remedy now available for concerned sportsmen. MSSA will continue collecting signatures on I-141 to place the issue before the voters on the November ballot. I-141, if enacted by the people in November, would repeal the law passed by the Legislature requiring hunters and anglers to give SSNs to get licenses.

MSSA president, Gary Marbut, commented, "We had a good bill introduced, but the Legislature had to tinker with it to try to please the bureaucrats in Helena. They altered our bill to swap drivers' license numbers for SSNs. Since DL#s and SSNs are synonymous in state computers, there was no gain in privacy, and that approach would have put our ability to proceed with I-141 at risk. The approach adopted by the Legislature was an attempt to please sportsmen with a feel-good, cosmetic solution, while actually catering to the Helena bureaucrats who want dossiers on all Montanans. So, in the end, we asked our friends in the Legislature to kill this badly-amended bill."

MSSA is the primary political action organization asserting the rights and prerogatives of gun owners and hunters in Montana.

Marbut continued, "Privacy is a constitutional right in Montana, but many legislators just don't get it. I predict that the decade we are now beginning will go down in history as the decade of privacy, much as the 1960 is remembered as the decade of civil rights. This is just the beginning of the fight between citizens wanting individual privacy, and big government that wants to know everything about everybody. Most citizens wish to escape casual scrutiny by legions of bureaucrats with too much time on their hands and no shortage of petty rules to enforce."

I-141 supporters must gather 19,862 valid signatures by June 23rd in order to qualify the measure for the general election ballot in November. If approved by the voters in November, the measure will become effective immediately. Interested persons may obtain petitions to circulate by calling MSSA at 549-1252, or by downloading them from the MSSA Website at mtssa.org.

- 30 - Information: Gary Marbut, 549-1252 or Roger Koopman, 587-7555 or 586-9445