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Bill Easing Penalty for Guns at School Dies in House

The bill would have tweaked the state's implementation of the federal Guns-Free Schools Act

By Dillon Tabish

HELENA — Montana representatives have twice voted down a proposal to give school boards more discretion on the expulsion of students found with guns at school.

Representatives failed Rep. Carl Glimm’s House Bill 320 by 50-50 votes on Tuesday and again Thursday.

The bill would have tweaked the state’s implementation of the federal Guns-Free Schools Act, which requires school boards to expel any student who brings a gun to school.

Young hunters would have been protected under the proposal, like the 16-year-old Columbia Falls student who was immediately suspended after forgetting her hunting rifle in her trunk in 2010.

Republican Reps. David Moore and Clayton Fiscus, formerly against the bill, voted in favor of it the second time around. Republican Reps. Bruce Meyers and Kenneth Holmlund, changed their earlier “yes” votes to “no.”