_________ Bill No. _______

Introduced By _______________________________________________________________________________

A Bill for an Act entitled: "An Act creating the offense of negligent keeping of a firearm, the offense of failure to offer firearm discharge protection, and the offense of failure to provide a firearm criminal offense warning."

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Montana:

NEW SECTION. Section 1.  Negligent keeping of firearm -- penalty. (1) A person commits the offense of negligent keeping of a firearm if:

(a) the person knowingly keeps a loaded firearm on premises possessed and controlled by the person;

(b) a youth under 16 years of age is likely to gain access to the loaded firearm without the person's permission if it is not kept in a secure place;

(c) the person does not keep the firearm:

(i) in a sturdy box or container that is locked;

(ii) in a location that a reasonable person would believe provides security from access by a youth under 16 years of age; or

(iii) on the person or within such close proximity to the person that the person can readily retrieve it;

(d) a youth under 16 years of age obtains the firearm and a foreseeable use of the firearm by the youth or another youth under 16 years of age results in injury to or the death of any person;

(e) the youth did not obtain the firearm as a result of unlawful entry on the premises by the youth or another person; and

(f) the person who kept the loaded firearm on premises possessed and controlled by the person is not a parent or guardian of the youth who obtained the firearm.

(2) A person convicted of the offense of negligent keeping of a firearm shall be fined an amount not less than $500 or more than $1,000.

NEW SECTION. Section 2.  Failure to offer firearm discharge protection -- failure to provide firearm criminal offense warning -- penalty. (1) A person, business, or other entity that sells firearms at retail commits the offense of failure to offer firearm discharge protection if the person, business, or other entity does not, at the time of the sale of a firearm, offer to sell the buyer a trigger lock or other locking device that will prevent discharge of the firearm.

(2) A person, business, or other entity that sells firearms at retail commits the offense of failure to provide a firearm criminal offense warning if the person, business, or other entity does not:

(a) at the time of the sale of a firearm, give the buyer a copy of [section 1] printed in letters at least one-fourth inch in height;

(b) conspicuously post a copy of [section 1] printed in letters at least one-half inch in height at each service counter at which firearms are sold.

(3) A person, business, or other entity convicted of an offense under this section shall be fined an amount not less than $500 or more than $1,000.

NEW SECTION. Section 3.  Codification instruction. [Sections 1 and 2] are intended to be codified as an integral part of Title 45, chapter 8, part 3, and the provisions of Title 45 apply to [sections 1 and 2].

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