Transporting ammo in Montana

[ak_glen]

Hi,

I'm not sure exactly where to post this so decided to start here in the general catagory. Here's the situation I have questions about.

My brother in law and my father both live in Alberta Canada. They recently took a trip down into Montana and while there stopped by a gun shop to look through the offerings. While talking to the salesman they were told they could buy and take ammunition back across the border to Alberta; all they needed to do was declare the ammo at the border. They did so and had absolutly no problems at the border with Canadian customs. But comments made by the customs officer have both of them concerned. He stated that if they had been stopped by a Montana law officer they could have had their vehicle conficated immediatly and would have lost it.

I live in Alaska so have no first hand experiance with the laws of Montana but I must say that what they were told does not sound right. I have done a few searches on the web about Montana gun laws and they seem to be friendly to us gun owners but I can not find anything specific about transporting ammunition.

Can someone from Montana please enlighten us about this? We would sure appreciate it!

Glen

 

[damien]

Not a lawyer. Here is an article I found:

http://www.vrolyk.org/guns/alien-laws.html

Federal Issues:
In general, non-immigrant aliens are forbidden to possess any firearms or ammunition. But there is a big exception for a legal alien who:

...is in possession of a hunting license or permit lawfully issued in the United States

(See Title 18, USC Chapter 44, Section 922, part (y)(2) for details.)

Green-card holders and immigrant aliens who do not yet have their green card are both okay under federal law, although many people (including gun dealers, law enforcement officers, etc.) are not aware of the distinction or the hunting license exception, and erroneously think that either you have a green card, or you can't have guns.

Also, non-citizen cannot purchase a firearm from a federally licensed firerams dealer unless they have been a resident of their state for 90 days. So, no, tourists on short visits cannot walk into guns stores to get "protection" during their trip. Sorry. (I've been asked that multiple times.)

Montana:
Concealed weapon permits are only issued to US citizens. See: Montana Code Annotated 45-8-321

However, concealed weapon permits from many other states are recognized, with no restriction on Montana residency or citizenship. See: Montana Code Annotated 45-8-329

Looks like he might have had trouble with federal law but only if he did not have a hunting permit at that time, but not Montana law. I suppose, as a practical matter, his chances of getting in trouble were pretty remote.

 

[ak_glen]

Thanks for the quick reply! A fact I failed to give was that my father is a US citizen. With that fact in mind I do not believe they could possibly get into any trouble.

 

[damien]

my father is a US citizen

In that case, I can't see how it would be a problem either. No problem under federal law. I can't see any problem under Montana law either. If anything, I would have expected a problem with Canadian law, but they had no problem there either. Maybe the Canadians don't realize how liberal U.S. gun laws (presently) are comparied to Canadian law.

 

[MT GUNNY]

That Canadian Officer or Boarder guy should stick to doing his Job, Instead of trying to translate MT laws. There is no such MT law!