This is incredible news for second amendment advocates in Montana! HB 631 has been sent to enrolling.

What does “Sent to Enrolling” mean? In the Montana legislature, “Sent to Enrolling” means that a bill has been passed by both the House and the Senate, and is now being prepared for delivery to the Governor’s office for signature. After a bill is passed by both the House and the Senate, it must go through a process called “enrollment” before it can be sent to the Governor. Enrollment is the process of preparing the final version of the bill, which includes any amendments or changes that were made during the legislative process. Once the final version of the bill is prepared, it is sent to the “enrolling clerk,” who is responsible for ensuring that the bill is properly formatted and free of errors. After the enrolling clerk approves the bill, it is officially “enrolled” and can be sent to the Governor for signature.

All indications are that Governor Gianforte will sign this legislation.

Across Montana, local governments have been thumbing their noses at the state preemption laws. By law, local governments cannot enact their own restrictions on the right to bear arms except in very limited and specific circumstances . Yet, these local governments have persisted. For instance, The Bus in Billings is an unarmed victim zone. Various locales have been sent lawyer letters demanding that they remove these restrictions, and their responses have invariably been “Sue us.” They know they’ve got the bottomless pockets of the taxpayers to finance their legal defense, and that very few plaintiffs will be willing to take on the expense of seeking justice. Furthermore, there’s often a question of standing where you might have to actually violate a law or risk a confrontation with law enforcement and possibly spend time in jail out of principle.

HB 631 will turn all of that on its head. Section 3(2) as amended:

 A person whose right to bear arms has been burdened by the state, or is likely to be burdened by the state, in violation of subsection (1) may assert the violation or impending violation as a claim or defense against the state in a judicial proceeding. The person asserting the claim or defense may obtain appropriate relief, including but not limited to injunctive relief, declaratory relief, and compensatory damages.

“The state” is defined to include all levels of government in Section 2(5):

“State” means the state of Montana or any political subdivision or local government, municipality, or instrumentality of the state

Section 3(3) of HB 631 provides the meat:

A person who prevails on a claim to enforce the person’s rights under Article II, section 12, of the Montana constitution or [sections 1 through 3] must be awarded reasonable attorney fees and costs.

It’s safe to assume that before the ink is dry on the governor’s signature there will be demand letters issued to various local governments across the state. The standard is now an impending violation of RKBA by the state, so finding a plaintiff would only require finding someone who intends to assert their RKBA in contravention of a local ordinance. The response of “Sue us, we’ve got resources” will be met with a lawsuit since the plaintiff will be just as capable of affording the fight as the local government.

If you’re a taxpayer in one of these jurisdictions that thumbs its nose at your RKBA as enshrined in the Montana Constitution, you need to demand that your local government comply with Montana law. Otherwise, this is going to hit you in the pocketbook.

It’s time to educate these petty tyrants about the Second Amendment.