Tagged: guns

Posted: May 1, 2013 at 4:03 am

New Ad Up in Montana on Background Checks

by Cowgirl

This morning the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) has launched a new TV ad pressuring Max Baucus to support background checks for gun sales, something over 79% of Montanans support according to the post recent Montana-specific poll.

Starting tomorrow, the ad will run for a week in Montana, on broadcast and cable in the Helena, Missoula and Billings media markets. It will also run on cable in Washington, DC on MSNBC and CNN.

The PCCC’s initial expenditure is over $50,000 — and will increase with online fundraising from the group’s national membership–about one million members.

You can see the ad here:

The ad features Claire Kelly, a gun owner and grandmother from Stevensville, who is one of the of 23,000 gun owners supporting sensible gun reform at GunOwnersForReform.com

Lawmakers in the Senate have said background checks would come up for another vote this year, U.S. News’s Rebecca Metzler reports. After the Progressive Change Campaign Committee’s full-page newspaper ads ran in 20 papers across Montana this past week, the NRA announced a newspaper ad last Thursday specifically attacking the citizen’s group and defending Baucus. As Greg Sargent at the Washington Post writes, this ad “suggests the NRA may still believe Baucus is gettable as a vote for Manchin-Toomey.”

Here’s the transcript of the ad:

I’m a grandmother, a hunter and a gun owner.

I’ve been the victim of a home invasion.

I hid my girls in a closet, called for help, aimed my handgun at the door and waited.

Guns can protect us but we’re less safe with guns in the wrong hands.

79% of Montana voters support background checks.

So why did Senator Max Baucus vote against us?

Senator Baucus, now that you’re retiring, please put Montana first.

Posted: February 17, 2013 at 10:34 pm

Reforming Gun Laws, Montana Republican Style

by Cowgirl

It might surprise you to hear this, but right-wing Republicans actually agree with President Obama that America needs a radical change in our gun laws. It’s just that they have a different idea of what those changes should be.

In the Montana Legislature this month, in the wake of the Newtown tragedy and a scourge of national gun violence, Montana Republicans have moved quickly to introduce a series of bills to deal with what they believe is society’s most pressing gun problem: it’s not easy enough to shoot someone.

There are dozens of proposals, each one stupider and sillier and more childish than the next. Here are few of my favorites:

First is a bill to change our concealed weapons laws. In Montana, concealed weapons may not be carried in churches, schools, banks, bars, colleges, hospitals and a few other specified areas. Republicans have proposed a bill to eliminate these restrictions completely.

The author of the bill, House Bill 304, is none other than the state chair of the House Judiciary Committee. A police officer showed up to a hearing to testify against it, saying he’d “never seen a bar fight that ended well with a concealed weapon.” The Republicans were unfazed by this testimony and are moving forward with the legislation. There’s also a companion bill, House Bill 384, that specifically addresses the injustice suffered by high school students who are denied the right to bring rifles and shotguns onto school grounds. The bill would forbid school officials from punishing such students.

Keep in mind that these are the same lawmakers who proposed Senate Bill 279 which was a bill to allow legislators to carry guns–both concealed and open–in the state capitol building last session. Apparently they think that this will make the capitol a safer place. I’m sure the many government employees who work in the Capitol will feel secure in knowing that a few crusty old Republican men–who start drinking at 10 am and spend the rest of the day snoozing at hearings or ogling high school pages–will serve as a security force in the event the building is attacked.

And if you think Republicans do not believe in guaranteed access to healthcare, think again. A few GOP legislators have just introduced House Bill 459, a bill to guarantee the provision of medical care–to anyone who is armed. The bill makes it a felony to deny someone health care if the denial is based in any way on the fact that the person is in possession of a weapon, and refuses to answer the doctor’s question about said possession. Said another way, this bill ensures that you can bring a weapon to your doctors office, and the doctor may not ask you to leave the premises if you refuse to answer the doctor when you are asked “is that bulge under you clothing a concealed weapon?” It also forbids pediatricians from asking other questions about guns that they routinely ask, about whether the parent owns weapons and, if so, whether the parent is safely storing them in the house, out of reach of the child.

These legislators should themselves seek out a pediatrician, because they are overgrown children who somehow became legislators.

There are many more such bills, including:

HB 302 by Rep. Krayton Kerns would prohibit state enforcement of any federal ban on semi-auto firearms/magazines

HB 215 by Rep. Edward Greef declares the Winchester rifle “The gun that won the west.”

HJ 5 by Rep. Jerry O’Neil amends the U.S. Constitution to prevent President from entering into any arms treaties that infringe on gun rights.

LC1639 by Rep. Scott Reichner would prevent local governments from restricting firearms.

HB 27 by Rep. Ted Washburn would allow the use of silencers when hunting “large predators,” while

HB 205 by Krayton Kerns would eliminate the prohibition on firearm sound reduction devices in the field altogether.

HB 240 by Rep. Cary Smith seeks to allow guns on college campuses.

HB 468 by Rep. Alan Doane would encourage manufacture of ammunition in Montana to ensure availability.

HJ 3 by Rep. Jerry O’Neil calls for an amendment to the US Constitution which “gives the states the right to make whatever guns they want so long as [firearms] stay inside the[sic] own borders.”

SB 304 by Rep. Roger Webb would establish a “firearm protection act.”

HB 292 by Rep. Randy Brodehl would revise laws related to pawn shop stolen gun procedures

Posted: February 12, 2013 at 5:03 pm

Representative Confuses Crime with Clay Pigeons

by Lash

2012 was a solid year for the North American Logic Shark. They got to rest from the stunt jumping the 2011 Legislature put them through, but as they say, there’s no rest for the delirious. Our logic shark sighting today comes from the House Judiciary Committee as they made a daring attempt at jumping yet another one (surprised face goes here).

Our daredevil o’the day is Rep Cary Smith, R-Billings, whose bill, HB 240, which seeks to allow guns on college campuses.

But wait, I hear you say, can’t you already carry guns on college campus in Montana? Well, in the strictest interpretation of your question – no, you can’t just carry them around everywhere on campuses. But in the real world, sensible spirit of your question – yeah, yeah you can. Continue reading →

Posted: December 31, 2012 at 7:36 pm

Divorced from Reality

When the Daily Inter Lake asked Rep. Jerry O’Neil yesterday about the Newtown school shooting tragedy, the Columbia Falls Republican responded with his concerns about divorce.

O’Neil noted that Connecticut gunman Adam Lanza, 20, was from a divorced home. Lanza apparently got the weapons he used from his mother, who enjoyed shooting sports. He shot her to death in her bed and then went to the school.

O’Neil claimed his divorce law would keep more families together, but it never passed.

Rep O’Neil believes that it is too easy for women to get a divorce in Montana. He was a big supporter of House Bill 438 which has been repeatedly voted down by his own colleagues. Under the proposed law, women would be required to remain married to drug addicts, those who gamble away the family’s life savings, drug dealers, criminals, and just plain bad people–until they had undergone eight weeks mandatory counseling.

To be sure, Rep. O’Neil believes divorce isn’t the only cause of school shootings in America. He believes they are caused by too few, rather than too many, guns in schools. He supports legislation to turn teachers into armed soldiers.

But O’Neil doesn’t stop there. The Montana Republican told the birther website World Net Daily today that he is pushing for two new amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The amendments would make it more difficult for the federal government to regulate firearms and to sign international arms treaties.

O’Neil is concerned about “the growing power of international treaties” and wants to amend the U.S. Constitution to prevent international treaties from being “used to override the U.S. Constitution”–and its second amendment. O’Neil says his other proposal “gives the states the right to make whatever guns they want so long as [firearms] stay inside the[sic] own borders.”

Posted: May 6, 2011 at 12:02 pm

Cryptic Threat

Montana Republican Representative James Knox is sent a message to those who created a Facebook page opposing his position on medical marijuana today. That message came through loud and clear:

I’m good with my guns.

Knox claims that he himself was getting “death threats” for his opposition to medical marijuana, but has for some reason not presented any evidence to back up his claims, and no death threats appear on the page he references. He was, however, willing present us with evidence of his own threatening statements toward others–here is the screenshot.

And here is the text of Knox’s post:

So latest attempt to intimidate legislators who took a stand against medical pot this past session includes death threats and Americans against …Facebook pages. Funny how we were elected and because some did not get their way they make death threats and attack us. I said I would vote to eliminate MMJ and I did. I also am good with my guns!

Posted: February 21, 2011 at 12:08 pm

TEA Partiers Plan to Gather at MT Capitol with Weapons

Just when you thought the Montana Legislature couldn’t get any crazier, this post from the TEA Party forum Edberry.com appeared in the blog inbox.

What does “Extra-Conservative” TEA Party leader Tim Ravndal mean by a “very very very loud message” ?

Members of the forum on which this announcement was posted include the following: Rep. James Knox, 2012 Gubernatorial candidate Ken Miller, Rep. “Birther” Bob Wagner, Tim Baldwin (son of Chuck Baldwin), Rep. Cary Smith, Rep. Champ Edmunds, Robert Brown (who lists his title as Coordinator of the John Birch Society in Montana, though he always claims he testifies only on his own behalf) Rep. Dan Kennedy, and Republican operative Chuck Denowh.

Posted: February 17, 2011 at 7:04 am

Nutjob Bills in the Montana Legislature

For your reading pleasure, here are some of the major pieces of legislation that have been put forward by the Tea Party Republicans who are now in control of the legislature. This is not a joke. These are real bills, and they are currently taking priority in the Montana legislature. Enjoy.

Welcome to the land of nutters, the Montana Legislature.

1. Legalize hunting with hand-thrown spear (Senate Bill 112)

2. Create fully-armed militia in every town (House Bill 278)

3. Allow legislators to carry weapons in the Capitol (Senate Bill 279)

4. Create an 11 person panel with authority to nullify all federal laws (House Bill 382)

5 Allow guns in schools (House Bill 558)

6. Eliminate educational requirements for persons seeking job of State Superintendent of Schools (HB 154)

7. Lift nuclear ban for purpose of building a nuclear reactor in the Flathead Valley (House Bill 326)

8. Withdraw the United States of America from the United Nations (Senate Joint Resolution 2)

9. Eliminate all state incentives for developing wind power (House Bill 244)

10. Omit Barack Obama’s name from the 2012, ballot because his father was born outside of America (House Bill 205)(this guy was on CNN this week)

11. Compulsory marriage counseling for people seeking a divorce (House Bill 438)

12. Give sheriffs authority over the federal government in terror investigations (Senate Bill 114)

13. Legalize hunting with silencers (House Bill 174)

14. Lift the prohibition on carrying concealed weapons in bars, churches and banks (House Bill 384)

15. Eliminate law that requires landlords to install carbon monoxide detectors (House Bill 354)

16. Require the federal government to prove in court that the National Parks were lawfully aquired. (House Bill 506)

17. Officially designate the “Code of the West” as the “Code of Montana” (Senate Bill 216)

UPDATE: 18. Declare that global warming is good. (House Bill 549)

h/t RastaMon for this photo.

Posted: September 27, 2010 at 9:49 pm

Helena Right-wing Candidate on “Jihad” and the Right to “Bare[sic] Arms”

Really Helena?! This is the woman that you want to let the tell the school board what to teach children? A woman who calls herself “Lady Knight of the Gun” on what is the creepiest Myspace page I’ve ever seen, but can’t spell the right have a gun herself?

Kristi Allen-Gailushas, the infamous Helena candidate for the Montana legislature on the Republican ticket, via her Facebook page.

According to the Queen City News I am a controversial candidate and I made it on to crooksandliars.com. WOOHOO!!! If you stand up for something and get attacked then you are doing something right – - as in standing up to the Helena School District. I also do not like terrorists calling for Jihad against our citizens and country and I will proudly support and defend our 2nd Amendment right to keep and bare[sic] arms!

Kristi Allen-Gailushas is seeking to defeat Mike Menahan for the Montana Legislature.