Happy Friday! Here are the topics for this week’s column:
- The Great “Raid”
- Tim Sheehy
- GF Public Safety Levy
- One More Thing
THE GREAT “RAID”
I think the IRS “raid” of a Great Falls gun store was first reported by KMON Radio. They reported that about 20 armed IRS agents arrived at the Highwood Creek Gun shop Wednesday morning to conduct an investigation.
U.S. Representative Matt Rosendale (R-MT02) went off the deep end about the investigation without many facts, saying on Twitter:
An absolute disgrace! Storming a small business with guns drawn is nothing more than an intimidation tactic.
The Biden Administration CANNOT continue to target and harass hardworking Montanans. The ATF and IRS must be STOPPED!
He earlier tweeted:
I’m incredibly disturbed by initial reports that the IRS and ATF closed Highwood Creek Outfitters without any warning today. This is yet another example of the Biden Administration weaponizing federal agencies to target and harass hardworking Americans.
We cannot allow Biden to continue expanding these agencies to infringe on our liberties.
Saying it was a “raid” was a stretch to me and saying “Storming a small business…” is also a stretch. Blaming it on the Biden Administration is batshit crazy.
Being armed like the Federal Agents were to conduct an investigation at a gun shop that sells AR-15s and AK-47s seems pretty normal to me.
According to reports, the Federal Agents who conducted the investigation did notify the Great Falls Police Department beforehand but did not notify the county sheriff until they were on site, which might be a clue on how much the Feds trust Sheriff Jesse Slaughter.
Now we wait to see what the Feds found, if anything, during their 10-hour investigation.
Read the report from KMON HERE and from KRTV HERE.
TIM SHEEHY:
There’s talk that Tim Sheehy is being recruited by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) to run for U.S. Senate in Montana against U.S. Senator Jon Tester (D-MT).
That means that the opposition research folks are out in full force looking for anything to use against Sheehy if he decides to enter the race. Sometimes the opposition will release some of the dirt they sound early to maybe prevent someone from running.
As someone who still digs for dirt, you can bet that if Sheehy has some dirt it will be found. Some may have already been discovered.
The Daily Beast is reporting that Sheehy was involved in a plane crash in 2019:
It’s a tragic story. In 2019, a small plane lost control and took a nosedive into a Florida home. A 17-year-old girl inside was pinned to a bedroom wall. The ceiling and walls crumbled around her. A flight instructor on the plane died upon impact. He was 64.
The only other person on board—pilot Tim Sheehy, now the GOP’s top Senate recruit in Montana—survived.
That’s not the end of the story. The Daily Beast found:
But years later, the incident is still playing out. Sheehy is being sued for negligence by the Florida family, the Ngalamulumes, whose home was damaged and whose daughter Carmelle was injured. That’s left Sheehy wrapped up in a lengthy legal battle ahead of a potential Senate run.
The lawsuit states Sheehy “owed a legal duty to others, including Ms. Ngalamulume, to exercise reasonable care in flying, inspecting, maintaining and/or operating the seaplane.”
The family alleges Sheehy “breached said duty” by “carelessly and negligently flying, inspecting, maintaining and/or operating the Seaplane.”
I’m sure Sheehy has the money to run, but he does not have name recognition. I don’t think there’s anyone on the Republican bench who can beat Tester. If Sheehy does make a decision to run, I’m sure the Democrats will be more than happy to invite Ms. Carmelle Ngalamulume to sit on the front row of the debates and to cut a few commercials for Montana television.
You can read the complete report from The Daily Beast HERE.
GF PUBLIC SAFETY LEVY:
There are now a couple of news stories about the Great Falls Public Safety levy town hall meeting held Wednesday night.
KRTV showed some video of the auditorium, and it was mostly empty. A source at the event told me that around 50 people were in attendance. Another source told me that around 125 people attended. Nonetheless, the “Town Hall” meeting for a town with a population of 60,000 and to have only 50-125 people show up should be considered a flop.
I have said from the beginning that I am a solid “No” on the Public Safety Levy.
The Electric has a list of candidates for the upcoming November election. Each of them should disclose how they voted on the Great Falls Library levy and how they plan to vote on the Public Safety levy.
Read the reports about the Public Safety Town Hall meetings HERE and HERE.
ONE MORE THING:
Father’s Day is this Sunday – Here is one of my favorite quotes about a father:
My father gave me the greatest gift anyone could give another person, he believed in me. – Jim Valvano
The Western Word 
The “raid” thing absolutely baffles me – not the actual investigation (although the amount of visible”force” seemed a bit out of proportion), but the reaction to it by some people, including Rosendale.
Something needs to be done about the Cities uncontrolled growth. In the past fifty years our population has grown by over 3000 citizens, that’s 60 per year or enough people to fill 4 Olympic size swimming pools.
That gun shop raid shows just how evil and nefarious the Biden administration truly is. Of all the gun shops in all the 50 states, including REALLY high volume gun shops in places like Atlanta and Indiana just across the border from Chicago, the Feds chose to raid – for no reason at all – a tiny backwater gun shop in a tiny backwater town in Montana to make some as yet unclear point which they didn’t bother to publicize to make that point. No reason at all. Unbelievable.
Now if I was the ATF and FBI and so on, and wanted to investigate illegal gun sales/running in Montana, what I might do is monitor the parking lots out front of places like North 40 for those odd-looking cash transactions taking place through the windows of vehicles with Alberta plates.
Great comparison. With your info, I might have do a stake-out! -JmB
Look out Sherriff Slaughter doesn’t come along and bust you though, like with the ATF and Mountie at the fair grounds gun show. The 2nd Amendment “right to sell and traffic arms” seems to trump the investigation of anything illegal with our elected officials.