Montana – -(AmmoLand.com)- The Montana Board of Regents (BoR) voted this morning to pursue litigation in an attempt to disallow the campus carry feature of Montana Shooting Sports Associations HB 102. The surprise for me was that it was a unanimous vote.
The BoR believes and will argue in court, that having been created by Article X, Section 9(2)(a) of the Montana Constitution, it somehow becomes some sort of super agency that is above any further authority in the Constitution.
Unlike the executive branch, the Legislature, local governments, and every other entity created by the Constitution, the BoR believes that it is exempt from the limitations imposed by the Declaration of Rights in Article II of the Constitution.
HB 102 specifically declares at Section 5 that the BoR is not exempt from the reservations of power that we the people have reserved to ourselves in the Declaration of Rights. The rights reservations to which the BoR is subject are specified in Section 5 of HB 102 to include freedom of speech, assembly, religion, press, privacy, search and seizure, the right to bear arms, and more.
Thus, the BoR believes itself to be above all of this. Under this lame legal theory, if the BoR wishes to hold criminal trials without juries and execute people for speech it doesn’t like, or because someone practices an unapproved religion, it would be free to do so.
This is all very strange, but it is about power for a governmental institution that has long had the bit in its teeth and will not willingly relinquish that power.
Meanwhile, the wild card in this is the Montana judiciary, including the Montana Supreme Court, which has long demonstrated that it is capable of amazing legal contortions to uphold state power. It is possible that the judiciary will declare that the color of new snow is black, or pull some similar legal trick to uphold the BoR power and nix campus carry under HB 102. We’ll see.
Expect the BoR lawsuit to request a temporary injunction against HB 102, holding it in abeyance while the lawyers duke it out in court, a process that could take months or years. Expect the courts (out of “an abundance of caution” don’t you know) to grant that injunction.
Meanwhile, Montana Shooting Sports Association is gearing up its legal team.
We’ve got that covered. Our very pro-gun Attorney General, Austin Knudsen, will mount the primary defense of HB 102 on behalf of the State of Montana. However, we are looking for some sympathetic attorneys willing to cover ancillary issues in amicus briefs. If you know any attorneys who want in on this circus (albeit important circus), please have them contact me.
Best wishes,
Gary Marbut, President
Montana Shooting Sports Association
www.mtssa.org
Author, Gun Laws of Montana
www.mtpublish.com
About Montana Shooting Sports Association:
Montana Shooting Sports Association is the primary political advocate for Montana gun owners. Visit: www.mtssa.org
What gives them the right to be above the law?? Why do they think they are so special, they can ignore the will of the People??
Fire them all. This is exactly what is wrong with public education at all levels. Progressives remove the ‘education’ part.
Typical bunch of communist idiots trying to take the rights of people to exercise thier second amendment rights in the communists teaching environment . Tough to forward the communist agenda where freedom and rights exist ! These tyrants can’t control the masses where rights and freedom are the rule of law . They want to teach students to be good slaves
“possible that the judiciary will declare that the color of new snow is black” Within Alaska State employees when supervisors said something like this we referred to this as Purple Snow whatever the boss decided.
Rights don’t come from government permission; exactly the contrary. And government power doesn’t come from government, either. EVERYTHING (all rights, power, and property) belongs to the People, and the government only exists to serve the People though protecting their rights, their power, their property. It’s about time we set right the confusions that exist around this topic. I wonder how many hangings for treason and tyranny will be required? Montana used to proudly celebrate Vigilante Day, a Montana-specific holiday that salutes the people taking the law into their own hands to end some scumbags. It’s barely acknowledged now. I wonder… Read more »
So abolish the board and start over with a clean slate. Perhaps the next batch will understand what “of the people, by the people and for the people” means. If not, repeat until a batch is found that does.
See? not all that hard or complicated.
You’re welcome!
😉