Montana Gun Group Grades and Endorses Political Candidates
The Montana Shooting Sports Association has released its recommendations and endorsements for the upcoming November general election.
MSSA President Gary Marbut said the MSSA is the primary advocate for gun owners in Montana.
“We sort out the candidates for the gun owning public so that they know who the good guys are,” said Marbut. “We have made 78 endorsements between candidates for Congress and candidates for the Montana Legislature, and we have published those recommendations at this site.
Marbut released the results of the MSSA recommendations for the major races in Montana.
“We have endorsed Matt Rosendale for the United States Senate and Greg Gianforte for the U.S. House,” he said. “Rosendale is clearly a good guy and has a 100 percent recommendation with us in the Montana Legislature. He was the prime sponsor of our ‘Ammunition Availability Act’ to try to encourage the manufacture of ammunition components here in Montana. Greg is one of us, he is a gun owner and a hunter, and we have ultimate confidence in him. Both of those guys have opponents who lean towards gun control.”
Marbut said that Governor Steve Bullock, in his effort to be more attractive to Democrat leaders across the nation, has actually created a problem for his fellow Democrats in Montana.
“In his effort to woo a national audience for his presidential aspirations, one thing he did there, he kind of threw (Jon) Tester and (Kathleen) Williams under the bus, because they’re now stuck saying either we agree with the leader of our part in Montana, or we disagree with the leader of our party and there’s a rift in the philosophy of the Democratic Party in Montana.”
The remaining 76 endorsements were for seats in the Montana Legislature, Senate and House. Of these, 74 were for Republican candidates and two were for Libertarians. MSSA could not identify any Democrat candidates with an acceptable voting record or an adequate returned candidate questionnaire to meet its endorsement criteria.