Montana CCW Permit: Only in Cities?
There’s an interesting article in the Missoulian about the concealed carry law in Montana. Apparently you only need a permit to conceal carry if you are in large cities:
Since 1991, state law has allowed Montanans to pay $50 and apply for a permit to carry a concealed handgun. County sheriffs issue the permits, after conducting a background check and requesting proof of some kind of gun training.
[…]
Most live outside city limits, where permits are not required to carry a concealed handgun. Two, including Butcher, obtained their permits decades ago, when District Court judges granted such permits and they were not widely available. One, Rep. Ed Hilert, R-Glendive, is a captain in the Montana Highway Patrol and, by law, is allowed to carry a concealed handgun even without a permit.
[…]
No lawful gun owner in Montana needs a permit to carry a gun in plain sight. But if you want to slip a handgun in your pocket where no one can see it, that’s another story. Such concealed weapons are against the law and people caught breaking it can face a $500 fine and six months in the county jail.
The law also forbids concealed daggers, sword canes, brass knuckles - even slingshots, but you can’t get a permit to legally carry those kinds of weapons. Conceal carry permits are good only for handguns.
In most parts of Montana, people don’t need a permit to carry a concealed handgun, said Gary Marbut, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association and the main author of the current law. Concealed weapons are illegal only inside city limits or within the boundaries of a “logging, lumbering, mining or railroad camp.”
There are some exceptions: If you are hunting, hiking, working on a ranch or doing other things in which “weapons are often carried for recreation or protection,” you can keep your weapon hidden, even if you’re in town, according to the law.
Seems a bit confusing and it puts you at risk of arrest if you don’t have a permit, are concealed-carrying, and accidentally drive through a city. Better that they adopt Vermont style laws where no permit is required anywhere.
3 Responses to “Montana CCW Permit: Only in Cities?”
on 04 Feb 2008 at 3:24 pm # Clark E Myers
Notice the reference to slingshots is almost certainly an archaic reference to slung shot - cannon ball on a chain or sling - something on the order of a morning star used as a blackjack style knock out tool by thieves and cutpurses.
The usage including slung shot dates to territorial law when the language was carried around in saddle bags and widely adopted.
CF the classic sere advice to fill a sock with sand and wet the sand.
on 08 Feb 2008 at 11:33 pm # jimbob86
“Accidentally drive through a city….”
T’hee……. Bona Fide cities being so common in Montana, you just never know when you’ll find yourself flying through one…….
Distances out west are such that most any trip has to be planned, if only to ensure that you have enough gas to get from A to B, as there may be NOTHING between those points…..
on 10 Feb 2008 at 7:41 am # Polvoso
You don’t have to worry about carrying while driving through cities in Montana. It is always legal to have a gun, concealed or not, in a car in Montana.