I’ve seen this question asked a few times by people who have moved here from other states. I guess other states have a lot of restrictions. In Montana, not so much. (Before I continue, I’ll once again include the obligatory disclaimer that I am neither a lawyer, nor have I ever played one on TV, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn last night. Below are simply my layperson’s understanding of Montana law. For legal advice, talk to a real Montana lawyer, preferably one who knows firearms law well.)

MCA 45-8-343 provides the limits of where you can fire a gun in Montana. It is illegal to discharge a firearm inside town or city limits unless it is justified (i.e., in self defense) or at a shooting range approved by the local governing body.

You can’t fire a gun across the right-of-way of a highway, according to MCA 61-8-369. Oddly, the title of that law says “road or highway” but the actual text of the statute says only highway. It’s a bad idea either way because you’re violating Rule 4 of the universal gun safety rules.

In Montana, there is a prohibition on shooting within one-quarter mile of an inhabited dwelling on state land without the permission of the inhabitant. There is a question of whether you can shoot on your own land but within one-quarter mile of a dwelling on state land. I suspect you can, but the prudent course of action would be to just ask permission. The DNRC has proposed banning shooting by default on public use sites (a terrible idea since there is no exception for legitimate self defense).

You don’t have to be concerned about counties having different laws concerning guns in Montana, because they are preempted from doing so by MCA 45-8-351.

MCA 76-9-102 protects shooting ranges. Notice that the law doesn’t say they must be commercial ranges. I read this as meaning that the private range you set up on your property is protected. And MCA 45-8-111 says it is not a public nuisance.

You can generally shoot in a national forest, but there are some restrictions. The 150 yard rule for “developed recreation area or occupied area” also applies to trailheads. It’s infuriating to see people set up targets at a trailhead and leave their brass, shotgun hulls, and burned pallets in the middle of the trailhead. Moreover, they’re invariably shooting in the direction of a trail. There’s nothing more fun that to come up to the trailhead on the Wilson Divide Loop in Little Bear on an ATV and some yahoos have set up their targets right on the trailhead, with rounds going downrange on the trail you were just on. The penalties for violating these federal rules are substantial, aside from the fact that you could kill someone. Such foolish and dangerous behavior is just begging for the forest service to ban all shooting (other than hunting or self defense) in that forest, as they’ve done in Hyalite.

Can you shoot on your own land outside of city limits in Montana? The answer is yes, with the caveat that you must do so in a safe manner. If your rounds are leaving your property, you could be charged with a variety of crimes, such as public nuisance or disorderly conduct. If you damage someone else’s property or injure someone, you’re looking at some very severe penalties. If there is little distance between your private shooting range and your neighbors’ property, the neighborly thing to do is shoot suppressed. If you can’t do that, shoot within normal daytime hours. The same goes for hunting. Follow the law, and don’t put rounds in your neighbor’s barn because you were shooting at prairie dogs.

If you’re new to Montana and someone is shooting on their own property out in the county, don’t call the sheriff and complain. He’s likely to show up and join in, and that will be even more noise. Shooting is part of our way of life here. If you can’t handle that, perhaps you’d be more comfortable back where you came from. The better thing to do is to ask your neighbor if they’ll teach you to shoot.

I had a friend who moved here several years ago and called the local sheriff to ask where to register his guns because he couldn’t find the information on their website. The sheriff’s office asked him, “Why on earth would you want to do that?” Gotta love Montana!