Signed by Governor Greg Gianforte

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to amend and pass a bill that authorizes carrying concealed firearms in public settings such as banks and bars regardless of whether they have a concealed carry permit.

Highlights:

• Alleges zones where guns are prohibited provide an increased risk to the health and safety of citizens because these zones create an unreasonable expectation of government-provided safety, while that safety cannot be provided or ensured (Sec 3-4).

• Establishes a person with a current and valid permit cannot be prohibited or restricted from exercising that permit anywhere in the state, except (Sec. 4):

• In a correctional, detention, or treatment facility operated by or contracted with the Department of Corrections or a secure treatment facility operated by the Department of Public Health and Human Services;

• In a detention facility or secure area of a law enforcement facility;

• At or beyond a security screening checkpoint regulated by the Transportation Security Administration in a publicly owned, commercial airport; in a building owned and occupied by the United States;

• On a military reservation owned and managed by the United States;

• On private property where the owner of the property or the person who possesses or is in control of the property, including a tenant or lessee of the property expressly prohibits firearms;

• Within a courtroom or an area of a courthouse in use by court personnel; or

• In a school building as determined by a school board

• Prohibits enforcing or coercing compliance with any rule or regulation that diminishes or restricts the rights of the people to keep or bear arms as reserved to them in Article II of the Montana constitution (Sec. 5).

• Authorizes any person who is not otherwise prohibited from doing so by federal or state law to openly carry a weapon and may communicate to another person the fact that the person has a weapon (Sec. 8).

• Limits the power of a county, city, town, consolidated local government, or other local government units from prohibiting, registering, taxing, licensing, or regulating the purchase, sale or other transfer, ownership, possession, transportation, use, or unconcealed carrying of any weapon, including a rifle, shotgun, handgun, or concealed handgun (Sec. 11-2).

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that authorizes carrying concealed firearms in public settings such as banks and bars regardless of whether they have a concealed carry permit.

Highlights:

• Alleges zones where guns are prohibited provide an increased risk to the health and safety of citizens because these zones create an unreasonable expectation of government-provided safety, while that safety cannot be provided or ensured (Sec 3-4).

• Establishes a person with a current and valid permit cannot be prohibited or restricted from exercising that permit anywhere in the state, except (Sec. 4):

• In a correctional, detention, or treatment facility operated by or contracted with the Department of Corrections or a secure treatment facility operated by the Department of Public Health and Human Services;

• In a detention facility or secure area of a law enforcement facility;

• At or beyond a security screening checkpoint regulated by the Transportation Security Administration in a publicly owned, commercial airport; in a building owned and occupied by the United States;

• On a military reservation owned and managed by the United States;

• On private property where the owner of the property or the person who possesses or is in control of the property, including a tenant or lessee of the property expressly prohibits firearms;

• Within a courtroom or an area of a courthouse in use by court personnel; or

• In a school building as determined by a school board

• Prohibits enforcing or coercing compliance with any rule or regulation that diminishes or restricts the rights of the people to keep or bear arms as reserved to them in Article II of the Montana constitution (Sec. 5).

• Authorizes any person who is not otherwise prohibited from doing so by federal or state law to openly carry a weapon and may communicate to another person the fact that the person has a weapon (Sec. 8).

• Limits the power of a county, city, town, consolidated local government, or other local government units from prohibiting, registering, taxing, licensing, or regulating the purchase, sale or other transfer, ownership, possession, transportation, use, or unconcealed carrying of any weapon, including a rifle, shotgun, handgun, or concealed handgun (Sec. 11-2).

Full Bill Text