After a campus carry initiative died in the Montana House during the last legislative session, one Whitefish High School junior decided that if he wanted schools in his state to be safer, he would need to take matters into his own hands.
Last week, 17-year-old Chet Billi filed paperwork proposing a ballot referendum on whether state teachers, faculty and administrators should be allowed to carry concealed handguns on school grounds. In an interview with KTVQ, Billi said he’s bothered that after school shootings “the first thing people want to do is take guns away from the people who could stop it.”
The ballot language has been sent to the Legislative Services Division, which has 14 days to recommend revisions. Once final language is approved by Secretary of State Linda McCulloch and Attorney General Tim Fox, Billi will need to collect 24,175 signatures to get the initiative on the ballot for the 2016 general election.
