By: Teresa Mull

The Montana House of Representatives has passed a bill that would make it so Montana residents wouldn’t have to ask the government for permission to exercise their Second Amendment rights.

House Bill 102 passed along party lines with a vote of 67-33 last week. The legislation also includes several other pro-gun provisions, which the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) supports. Brenden Boudreau, director of field operations for NAGR, elaborated on the bill:

So, currently the Senate Judiciary is expected to take action on HB 102 [tomorrow]. This is an omnibus gun bill that includes campus carry, permitless carry (Constitutional Carry) and a couple other pro-gun policies. The bill is mostly good and has our support, but isn’t quite everything we want to see in a permitless carry bill. We’ve got our members involved to make sure that HB 102 doesn’t get watered-down with anti-gun amendments in the Senate Judiciary committee and make sure it passes out of the Senate to go back to the House for concurrence.

After HB 102 is done, we’re going to be working with lawmakers to file a bill as a clean up to address the other areas of state law to make Montana a fully Constitutional Carry state.

NAGR has been successful in making Constitutional Carry the law of the land in several states already. Montana would join a dozen other states that do not require permits to carry. Texas and Utah are also considering Constitutional Carry bills this year.

Teresa Mull ([email protected]) is editor of Gunpowder Magazine.