Quoted: Well the senate may be screwing us but there is hope for the House. That and if this passes the death penalty may be handle out side of court. www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/02/26/news/state/28-guns.txt Gun rights bill passes House By The Associated Press HELENA - The House bucked the law enforcement community and endorsed a proposal to let residents brandish firearms if they feel threatened. The measure took a tortured route through House floor debates, where it first was supported two weeks ago, killed last week amid pressure from police groups, resuscitated with the help of gun-rights activists and then endorsed again Monday. The 57-43 vote sets the stage for more debate in the Senate. Supporters said they changed the proposed law to ease fears of some opponents, who worried that certain provisions would make it difficult for law enforcement to handle confiscated weapons. The measure is needed to make it clear that gun owners have no obligation to flee first when threatened, and to require that prosecutors prove wrongdoing when someone asserts they were using self-defense, supporters said. "I can tell you damn right that if a guy is going to beat the you-know-what out of me, I am going to defend myself," said Rep. Ed Butcher, R-Winifred. "We all have the right to defend our persons and our families." The measure also states a gun owner can show his gun to a would-be assailant in an attempt to defuse a potential conflict. Opponents argued the bill will give criminals more rights to assert self-defense in violent crimes, making prosecution harder. House Democratic Leader John Parker, a prosecutor in Great Falls, said two men engaged in a bar fight could both assert self-defense in an escalating melee that leaves one of them seriously injured, or dead. "There ought to be a requirement to proportional use of violence," he said. "The violence can't just continue escalating." Parker said state laws and the Montana Constitution already give residents the right to protect their homes and property, along with a reasonable self-defense right. Gun-rights groups have pushed for the legislation, often called a "no-retreat" law, in other states. Sponsor Rep. Jack Wells, R-Bozeman, said the measure won't provide any safe harbor for criminals. He argued Montana will have fewer criminals if the state makes it easier for law abiding gun owners to use their weapons. "A criminal is a criminal by definition, and he won't obey any of the laws we write here," Wells said. The bill is House Bill 340.

Typical dumbshit dem.   He doesn't even know that both men would be breaking the law by CCW in a bar.   Dumb example.

Quoted: Quoted: I predict crime surge in MT in near future. Starting to happen already.  Everynight we here on the local news about another armed robbery at a casino, or a murder in Billings.   I'll bet they average one murder a week in Billings.

Minneapolis hit 1 murder a week about 20 years ago and it was huge news there.  Now it's probably 6 times that.  

I sure loved growing up in Montana.  Things have changed over the years.

A school teacher stopped to help out a couple of guys...I think they had car trouble.  This was standard fare when I was growing up...you stopped to help people in trouble.  To repay to this nice lady  the guys raped and killed her.  Death to the bad guy.  But wait he didn't get a fair trial.  Death to the bad guy again.  But wait he didn't get a fair trial again.  After X number of trials, etc. Duncan McKinsey (sp?) got life...justice was served by the legal system in Montana.  SOB should have been hung.

(Edit...wrong bad guy.  Duncan was killed by the State, I was thinking of Dewey Coleman)

Another case happened around Billings.  Guy took a gal out, beat and stabbed her many times, left her for dead.  She came to and started crawling to get help.  Guy comes back and heaps some more damage on her.  Defense was "the State can't prove he wanted to kill her".  SOB should have been hung.

Problem isn't just the political leaders, but the legal system.  Problem is all over the country!