Hardening a soft target.
Montana is home to more than 60 one-room schools, the most of any state. One, the single-room Hi-Line elementary school in Galata, relies on Shelby’s police department for protection, but Shelby is 23 miles away.
That’s why Rep. Casey Knudsen, R-Malta, said he plans to support legislation this session that would allow school officials to carry concealed firearms.
“I really see it as a benefit for our rural schools to have some kind of protection for students,” Knudsen said. “That way they wouldn’t have to rely on cops that would take a half an hour or longer to reach the school.”
Rep. Seth Berglee, R-Joliet, is considering whether to introduce such a bill. His idea would allow specially trained teachers and school administrators to carry and use guns in schools – if they so choose.
Berglee, who served as an Army marksmanship instructor for three years, also serves as a reserve police officer. He said his bill would require that interested school officials complete training “equal to or greater than” that received by law enforcement. The key to such training is recognizing legitimate threats, he added.
“If it is a legitimate threat, then I think arming school officials has to part of the conversation,” Berglee said.
He added that many rural schools have limited budgets and often choose not to hire armed security guards.
An uphill fightBerglee said he carried a similar bill that failed in the 2017 session because it had no mechanism detailing how school officials should decide who could carry arms. Some Republicans worried it would diminish local control, he added.
“In this next bill draft, I’ll have to alleviate that,” Berglee said. “I’m trying to find language in the bill that meets a training requirement that people can equate with proficiency. I’m saying if you’re proficient and safe, then you meet the requirement to carry.”
Given the recent history, Rep. Daniel Zolnikov, R-Billings, said he expects that any bill to expand gun rights could make it through the Legislature, but would likely be vetoed by Gov. Steve Bullock, a Democrat who vetoed such bills before.
Still, Zolnikov is considering a bill that would allow Montanans to move from one county to another without renewing their concealed weapon permits. Existing law requires that anyone with a concealed-weapon permit notify any new county they move to.
“Nobody knows about it, nobody does it and it’s the whole state of Montana,” Zolnikov said. “So, is that even necessary? There’s no one enforcing it, so why is that a law?”
Zolnikov said his bill may be benign enough to pass.
Both Zolnikov and Knudsen said they expect Bullock to veto bills expanding gun rights. On the other hand, they see the GOP-controlled Legislature rejecting any bill to diminish gun rights.