Here are some topics that caught my attention for today’s column:

• Republicans & Transgender Youth
• Montana Senate Bill 107
• U.S. Gun Laws

REPUBLICANS & TRANSGENDER YOUTH:

Reuters is reporting that Republican legislators across the United States have escalated a campaign to ban certain healthcare for transgender youth, in some cases seeking to charge parents and doctors with child abuse if they provide treatment.

Reuters also found that Republicans have introduced more than 300 bills in 33 states aiming to limit transgender and wider lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) rights this year, more than double the number of such bills filed in 2022, according to Erin Reed, Alejandra Caraballo and Allison Chapman, a trio of transgender rights advocates tracking the legislation.

The super-majority in the Montana legislature is one of those 33 states. The Republicans in Montana don’t seem to care about our privacy these days but are more concerned about what is going on in our pants.

Read the complete report from Reuters HERE.

MONTANA SENATE BILL 107:

All the lobbying seems to be paying off for the bar and casino owners in Montana.

NBC Montana reported last month that Senate Majority Leader Steve Fitzpatrick (R-Great Falls) presented Senate Bill 107.

I once thought of Fitzpatrick as a decent Republican, but he has made his way to Senate Majority leader by drinking the MAGA Kool-Aid. Shame on him.

NBC reports the bill would focus on legal standards and specify what a bar owner or hospitality business can get sued for. They also reported that Fitzpatrick says the bill would make it so only establishments that served a visibly intoxicated consumer could be liable for injuries caused as a result of the serving.

The truth is that these “establishments” don’t want to be sued at all and have politicians in their pockets who will try to make that happen.

It’s sickening.

Montanans may have seen a commercial that says MADD is against this bill. I have not been able to find the link to the video. If MADD is against the bill, then the regular folks in Montana should be against it, too.

Montana needs stronger DUI laws. We are a joke compared to other states.

Read the NBC report HERE. Check out SB 107 HERE.

U.S. GUN LAWS:

Gallup recently reported that Americans’ dissatisfaction with U.S. gun laws has risen to 63%, the highest by one percentage point in Gallup’s 23-year trend, and an increase of seven points over the past year. At the same time, satisfaction with gun policy has fallen by the same amount to 34%, tying the lowest reading on record.

As of 02/15/23, there have been 71 mass shootings in the USA this year. (Source)

On the same date (02/15/23), Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen called out President Biden’s recent irresponsible, radical, and unconstitutional statements he made during the State of the Union demanding Congress ban firearms commonly used by law-abiding Americans for self-defense.

The problem with Knudsen’s statement is that mass shootings are not self-defense. As Gallup pointed out, dissatisfaction with U.S. gun laws is growing. Sure, Montanans are backward when it comes to things like guns and drunk driving, but one of these days that may change.

We need to bring back the assault weapons ban.

Read the Gallup report HERE. Read the press release from the Montana Attorney General HERE.

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