Letters to the editor Feb. 6

Bill defies common sense

I am a longtime Montana hunter education instructor, something I am immensely proud of and take very seriously. We do an outstanding job of training kids to safely handle firearms, to be ethical hunters, and to respect the tradition they are entrusted with. I use the term “kids” literally — my students average 12 years old and some are as young as 10.

Under Montana law a hunter education card satisfies the firearm training requirement when applying for a concealed carry permit. Hunter ed classes don’t cover anything remotely related to concealed carry. In fact, we are forbidden to have any handgun in class, even certified inert ones. Yet, our lawmakers promote the illusion that this equals concealed carry training, and will make all of us safer.

Now, with the introduction of HB 102, the current legislature is attempting to promote a more dangerous illusion: that allowing virtually anyone to conceal-carry firearms, without any training, will make us even safer still. This defies common sense.

HB 102 should not become law.

—Jim Watson, Kalispell

Control our own destiny

According to our own CDC the chances of surviving Covid-19 are between 99.5% and 99.98% if you are under 70. Yet the powers that be have shut down our economy,and mandated mask wearing. Hydroxycloroquine and Ivermectin have been viable Covid-19 treatment options since the beginning (ask your doctor if you don’t believe me), but the powers that be have tried to tell us that those drugs won’t work.

Now the powers that be want you to put an experimental biological agent, (i.e. vaccine) into your body, when it has not even been proven that the vaccine will stop transmission of the virus. Why?

If you want to take the vaccine fine, but I know a lot of people who don’t want to take the vaccine. How will the powers that be get people who don’t want the vaccine to take the vaccine? By mandating proof of vaccination for things such as; travel, attending school, working for the government, attending events, etc. Pretty soon everyone will have a “Covid Vaccine Card” with your SSN, DNA stamp, etc., on the card.

If this progression of events bothers you, contact your state legislators and tell them that the Montana Legislature needs to pass a bill providing Montanans with a vaccine bill of rights, in order to prevent the powers that be from depriving our citizens of basic civil liberties over a vaccination. It’s past time We The People took control of our own destiny with regards to this virus and vaccine.

—McKinley Raines, Fortine

Wolf snaring bill

I was really disappointed to see the chair of the House Fish, Wildlife and Parks committee fail to allow sufficient time for multiple Montana residents to voice their opposition to House Bill 224, a bill to allow wolf snaring in Montana, at a recent hearing. All of the proponents of the controversial bill were allowed to speak, but opponents (who significantly outnumbered those in support) were rushed and ultimately cut off. Elected officials work for the citizens of Montana, and these individuals took time out of their busy day to try and make their voices heard.

Each side was only given 35 minutes to testify rather than the customary 2-3 minutes per person. As a result, few of the wolf-snaring bill’s opponents had an opportunity to testify. Having their voices silenced creates distrust between voters and their elected officials.

HB 224’s opponents were numerous and varied, including hikers, cross-country skiers, mountain lion hunters (who use trained, free-roaming hounds), organizations like the Sierra Club, Audubon and Montana Wildlife Federation, a veterinarian, and even a former Montana Wildlife Services agent, who has multiple decades of experience trapping wolves.

Most of these Montanans’ voices would have been completely silenced and unknown to those watching the hearing but for a recommendation by the committee’s secretary that each citizen should be able to – at the very least – state their name, affiliation, residence and register their opinion to pass or fail the bill.

If the elected officials who have been chosen by the voters to run the People’s House continue to run slipshod over democracy, and pass such cruel and massively unpopular bills that will harm and kill untold numbers of wildlife, hunting hounds and people’s pet dogs, they better believe they will be held accountable.

—Kimberlee Buffett, Kalispell

Problem that doesn’t exist

HB 112 – touted as the Save Women’s Sports Act – is sexist, misogynistic and transphobic. The argument that boys want to infiltrate female sports to gain an advantage is uninformed and based on sexist assumptions.

The bill disregards the anguish and inner turmoil youth experience while working out their gender identities. It wrongly assumes that a child would voluntarily submit themselves to being shunned and disowned by their families and communities for the sake of athletic achievement. Any parent who would allow their child to adopt a gender identity different from what they were assigned at birth, only to gain an advantage in sport, should have their parenting abilities assessed.

Further, pre-puberty, the physiological differences between boys and girls are negligible. Thus, there is no competitive advantage or incentive for a cisgender boy to say he is a transgender girl so he can join a female sports team or league.

Additionally, puberty blockers prevent the physiological changes that tend to set men and women apart post-puberty. Again, this removes any potential advantage gained by a male falsely claiming to be female on the court or the field.

This bill is a prime example of a straw man fallacy. The bill’s sponsor has provided the perfect solution for a problem that does not exist, and in doing so has wasted countless people’s time. We are in the middle of a public health and economic crisis, and the only use I see for this bill is holding on to it for the next time the stores run out of toilet paper.

— Bre Koffman, Whitefish