HB 246 would allow guns inside Montana post offices

By Cole Grant/UM Legislative News Service

HELENA - The Montana House Judiciary Committee heard testimony on four gun control bills Tuesday morning, including House Bill 246, which would allow firearms on U.S. Postal Service property in Montana.  

The bill would override a federal rule that not only prohibits firearms inside a Post Office, but in the parking lot as well.

Rep. Seth Berglee, R-Joliet, who’s the vice chair of the committee, supports the bill.

“Even people that concealed carry, to say that you can’t just take it off and leave it in your vehicle, that that too would be illegal, I don’t think that’s really in keeping with the traditions of Montana,” Berglee said.

Mark Murphy, who represents the Montana Association of Chiefs of Police, opposes the bill.

“Our officers take an oath to the United States Constitution and to enforce all the laws. This will put us in a position of violating the oath that we take when we start,” Murphy said.

House Bills 251, 262 and 273 had to do with revising concealed carry laws.

Cole Grant is a reporter with the UM Legislative News Service, a partnership of the University  of Montana School of Journalism, the Montana Broadcasters Association and the Greater Montana Foundation.