Judge Upholds Missoula Universal Background Check Regulation
Missoula, MT is the home of the Univ. of Montana which has developed over many years into a concentration of bleeding heart liberals. Fortunately, there are a lot of places to live in the Big Sky areas of Montana. ~ Bill Smith, Editor
by Tom Knighton: It seems that the city of Missoula, Montana wants to require universal background checks. Despite the burden this places on people wishing to exercise their Second Amendment rights, it seems that not everyone disagrees with this either.
For example, a judge has upheld the law.
A state judge on Thursday upheld Missoula’s 2016 gun ordinance, which requires background checks on all gun sales in city limits, even between private parties.
Judge Robert “Dusty” Deschamps’ ruling rejected an opinion from Montana Attorney General Tim Fox that said local governments don’t have the power to limit the sale and transfer of firearms.
State law, Deschamps wrote, says “Missoula’s governing authority must be ‘liberally construed’ with ‘every reasonable doubt as to the existence of a local government power or authority … resolved in favor of the existence of that power or authority.”’
“By invalidating the City of Missoula’s Ordinance, the Attorney General’s opinion deprives Missoula of its own authority,” Deschamps wrote.
Missoula, he concluded, is authorized by state law to prevent felons from possessing firearms and can therefore require background checks within city limits.
Earlier this year, the city challenged Fox’s decision to void the background check ordinance, which was passed in 2016 but never went into effect because of Fox’s opinion.
Missoula City Council Chair Bryan von Lossberg, sponsor of the ordinance, said Thursday evening the decision was “deeply affirming. It’s always been about public safety in Missoula.”
Several groups had weighed in on the case in Missoula County District Court, including the National Rifle Association, as well as a group of four local citizens who shared their experiences and support for the ordinance.
In his ruling, Deschamps mentioned specifically these citizens, who said they were “not zealots who support banning guns entirely or taking away anyone’s Second Amendment rights.”
“These are folks who are both gun owners and non-gun owners with a common sense of values around gun background checks,” von Lossberg said. Male bovine excrement.
There’s nothing “common sense” about this.
Look, a regulation that impacts the entire state has some actual teeth. Only people along the border region can easily hop across the state line to conduct a sale, and then you’re dealing with other regulations involved.
But leaving Missoula to sell a gun, thus bypassing the regulations? Easy as it gets.
Because of that fact, gun sales will happen between friends right inside the city, and if anyone asks, they conducted the sale in the next town over. It’s not common sense. It’s a sign that there are a lot of mentally deficient people involved in activism in Missoula.
No, seriously, anyone with half a brain can see how easily this can be bypassed and how this won’t do a damn thing to make the city safer. Despite protestations to the contrary, it’s not about public safety. It’s about “doing something” so they can pretend they’re accomplishing something, anything. But they’re not. Not in the least.
At the end of the day, though, they’ve done nothing except cost the taxpayers some money and made things a slightly more difficult for law-abiding gun owners while not doing anything to those who don’t follow the laws.
Nice job, dipsticks.
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Tom Knighton is a Navy veteran, a former newspaperman, a novelist, and a blogger at Bearing Arms. He lives with his family in Southwest Georgia.
Tags: Tom Knighton, Bearing Arms, Judge Upholds, Missoula Montana, Universal Background Check Regulation To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
For example, a judge has upheld the law.
Judge Robert “Dusty” Deschamps’ ruling rejected an opinion from Montana Attorney General Tim Fox that said local governments don’t have the power to limit the sale and transfer of firearms.
State law, Deschamps wrote, says “Missoula’s governing authority must be ‘liberally construed’ with ‘every reasonable doubt as to the existence of a local government power or authority … resolved in favor of the existence of that power or authority.”’
“By invalidating the City of Missoula’s Ordinance, the Attorney General’s opinion deprives Missoula of its own authority,” Deschamps wrote.
Missoula, he concluded, is authorized by state law to prevent felons from possessing firearms and can therefore require background checks within city limits.
Earlier this year, the city challenged Fox’s decision to void the background check ordinance, which was passed in 2016 but never went into effect because of Fox’s opinion.
Missoula City Council Chair Bryan von Lossberg, sponsor of the ordinance, said Thursday evening the decision was “deeply affirming. It’s always been about public safety in Missoula.”
Several groups had weighed in on the case in Missoula County District Court, including the National Rifle Association, as well as a group of four local citizens who shared their experiences and support for the ordinance.
In his ruling, Deschamps mentioned specifically these citizens, who said they were “not zealots who support banning guns entirely or taking away anyone’s Second Amendment rights.”
“These are folks who are both gun owners and non-gun owners with a common sense of values around gun background checks,” von Lossberg said.
There’s nothing “common sense” about this.
Look, a regulation that impacts the entire state has some actual teeth. Only people along the border region can easily hop across the state line to conduct a sale, and then you’re dealing with other regulations involved.
But leaving Missoula to sell a gun, thus bypassing the regulations? Easy as it gets.
Because of that fact, gun sales will happen between friends right inside the city, and if anyone asks, they conducted the sale in the next town over. It’s not common sense. It’s a sign that there are a lot of mentally deficient people involved in activism in Missoula.
No, seriously, anyone with half a brain can see how easily this can be bypassed and how this won’t do a damn thing to make the city safer. Despite protestations to the contrary, it’s not about public safety. It’s about “doing something” so they can pretend they’re accomplishing something, anything. But they’re not. Not in the least.
At the end of the day, though, they’ve done nothing except cost the taxpayers some money and made things a slightly more difficult for law-abiding gun owners while not doing anything to those who don’t follow the laws.
Nice job, dipsticks.
---------------
Tom Knighton is a Navy veteran, a former newspaperman, a novelist, and a blogger at Bearing Arms. He lives with his family in Southwest Georgia.
Tags: Tom Knighton, Bearing Arms, Judge Upholds, Missoula Montana, Universal Background Check Regulation To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
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