Democrat Montana Gov. Steve Bullock late last week gutted a restaurant carry measure that would have restored the right of law-abiding Montanans to protect themselves when going out to eat.
Bullock returned House Bill 494 to the Montana Legislature with an amendatory veto. His proposed amendment would only allow Montanans to carry a concealed firearm for self-defense while patronizing a restaurant where alcohol is not served—a meaningless gesture, since it is already legal to carry a concealed firearm in a restaurant that does not serve alcohol.
The original measure, as passed by the legislature, would have allowed law-abiding Montanans to carry a firearm for self-defense while patronizing a restaurant where alcohol is not the primary item of sale. Yet Bullock apparently believes that the right to self-defense should be unnecessarily banned due to the presence of a product that is legally sold in an establishment that is licensed to sell it.
