Montana gun laws

The law helps the vigilant before those who sleep on their rights. (1-3-218)

Basics

Weapon laws (Title 45-8-3)
Montana does not have gun registration, licensing, or owner permits. There is no assault weapon ban or magazine capacity limitations. Private gun sales are legal. No permit is required for constitutional carry. Open carry is legal and concealed weapon permits (CCW) are shall issue. Permits are generally not required outside of city/town limits.

Permitless concealed carry
Per HB 102 (2021), anyone who can legally posses a firearm may carry a concealed firearm without a permit, 45-8-316 (changes have not yet been codified). The former rural area exemption, 45-8-317, has been repealed.

Government buildings
Concealed carry is illegal in portions of a building used for state or local government offices and related areas in the building that have been restricted, 45-8-328(a). Local governments may prohibit carrying of unpermitted concealed or openly carried weapons to a publicly owned building under its jurisdiction (and many do) 45-8-351.

No guns signs
No guns signs do not have the force of law on private property. Failure to leave or disarm would only be trespassing. New language in HB 102 (2021) allows restricting the ability to carry on private property where the owner forbids it, but makes no mention of signage. You must be asked to leave or disarm; signs alone do not have the force of law. Hotel owners and landlords are prohibited by law from banning firearms, 70-24-110.

Bar/restaurant carry
Per HB 102 (2021), it is now legal to carry in bars. It is illegal to carry a concealed firearm while under the influence of an intoxicating substance, 45-8-327. This does not apply to open carry, however many establishments are mistaken about the law. Carrying while drunk is a bad idea and not advised.

Bank carry
Per HB 102 (2021), it is now legal to carry in banks. 45-8-328 has been amended to strike the former section that applied to concealed carry in banks. It was always legal to openly carry there. Signs do not have the force of law alone; you must be asked by an employee to leave or disarm for there to be a crime of trespassing.

School carry
Firearms are prohibited in school buildings except that school trustees may give permission to carry, 45-8-361. Parking lots and outside the school are not covered by this section. 45-8-351 allows local governments to prohibit firearms at schools as well.

Campus carry (colleges and universities)
No specific state law prohibits firearms on college or university campuses. Per HB 102 (2021) which prohibited universities from prohibiting open or concealed carry on campus, was ruled unconstitutional by the Montana State Supreme Court and thrown out.

Car carry
There is no law prohibiting loaded or unloaded firearms in vehicles. Unlike other states, there is no wildlife regulation on loaded long-guns. Weapons cannot be concealed upon the person within city/town limits (see permitless carry).

Airport carry
There is no specific law prohibiting firearms in airports (outside the secure area), however local governments can ban firearms in public airport buildings 45-8-351.

Home carry
It is legal to carry a concealed firearm at one's own premises (private property; land), at one's home, or one's place of business without a permit, 45-8-317(j).

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Federally Prohibited Places

Firearms, loaded or unloaded, concealed or openly carried, are prohibited in the following places

Inside federal facilities (including courthouses and offices like a Social Security office);
On military bases (military personnel should refer to DoD policy and post orders regarding storing personal weapons on base);
The Post Office property (includes the parking lot), but not post-office windows in stores (contract stations);
VA hospitals/facilities including federal veterans' cemeteries (carrying).

Firearms are banned in "a building or part thereof owned or leased by the Federal Government, where Federal employees are regularly present for the purpose of performing their official duties" and includes essentially all parts of federal court facilities (18 USC § 930). 'No weapons' signs must be posted at federal facilities in order for someone to be convicted (but you may be arrested).

Interstate Transportation Protection 18 USC § 926A
This section was intended to protect innocent passage of travelers who might have a firearm prohibited by local jurisdiction. For instance, a resident of a frontier state driving through California with an 'assault weapon' to another free state. The trip must be from one free state to another, the firearm unloaded, and neither the firearm nor any ammunition is readily accessible from the passenger compartment. In the case of a vehicle without a compartment separate from the driver’s compartment the firearm or ammunition shall be contained in a locked container other than the glove compartment or console.

Airports/Aircraft 49 CFR 1540.111 and 49 USC § 46505
Under federal law (local laws may differ), firearms are prohibited beyond the TSA checkpoints. You also cannot attempt to enter a TSA checkpoint while armed, even by mistake. Check your bags! Even loose ammunition, empty magazines, spent cases, and miscellaneous gun parts have caused problems and prosecutions for travelers. Learn more about the TSA regulations.

Military Bases
Self-defense firearms are generally prohibited on base. Almost uniformly, civilians may not possess firearms on base. Service-members may be required to store their weapons as their commanding officer directs. Check individual base and service branch regulations.

National Park
Section 512, Credit CARD Act of 2009 (and 54 USC § 104906) changed federal law to make park firearm regulations reflect state law. Typically, the only restrictions on firearm carry are state and local laws. If it is legal elsewhere in the state, it is legal in the park and sections that conflict with state law regarding carrying and possessing firearms (but not shooting bans) do not apply. So though on National Park Service lands (National Parks, Monuments, etc.) carrying a firearm or possessing loaded firearms are prohibited in vehicles (unless one has a special park permit, usually for hunting), this does not apply if the state allows open and/or concealed carry, or loaded/unloaded firearms in vehicles.

The park buildings (visitor centers, offices, etc.) are still federal facilities and off-limits to firearms. Discharge of firearms, except when lawfully hunting, is generally prohibited. Discharge of firearms, except when lawfully hunting, is generally prohibited. NPS pamphlet here. The same applies for National Wildlife Refuges, 16 USC § 1a–7b.

National Forest and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in Montana have no ban on the carry of firearms.

Indian Reservations
Firearm carry on Indian reservations is a gray area. Some reservations in Montana do permit concealed carry with a valid concealed firearm permit, however, it may vary. Tribes cannot enforce tribal law on non-tribal members, though they can enforce state and federal law. You may be trespassed from the reservation and have your firearm confiscated. One should contact individual reservation authorities for clarification of their regulations.

State Preemption of Local Laws

Local governments can prohibit firearms (openly carried or concealed) in government buildings. Check local ordinance as rules or signs may not be conspicuously posted. Compare the below statute to the old version (underlining below are new additions). See the text of LR-130 for changes and this article.

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45-8-351 Restriction on local government regulation of firearms
(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), a county, city, town, consolidated local government, or other local government unit may not prohibit, register, tax, license, or regulate the purchase, sale or other transfer (including delay in purchase, sale, or other transfer), ownership, possession, transportation, use, or unconcealed carrying of any weapon, including a rifle, shotgun, handgun, or concealed handgun.
(2) (a) For public safety purposes, a city or town may regulate the discharge of rifles, shotguns, and handguns. A county, city, town, consolidated local government, or other local government unit has power to prevent and suppress the carrying of unpermitted concealed weapons or the carrying of unconcealed weapons to a publicly owned and operated building under its jurisdiction.
(b) Nothing contained in this section allows any government to prohibit the legitimate display of firearms at shows or other public occasions by collectors and others or to prohibit the legitimate transportation of firearms through any jurisdiction, whether in airports or otherwise.

Se also 7-1-111(9) which prohibits local governments from using “any power that applies to or affects the right to keep or bear arms.”

7-1-111. Powers denied. A local government unit with self-government powers is prohibited from exercising the following: (9) any power that applies to or affects the right to keep or bear arms, except that a local government has the power to regulate the carrying of concealed weapons;

Who cannot possess a firearm?

Federal Prohibited Persons
The following are federally prohibited persons:

Anyone under indictment or information in any court for a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year; (felony case is in court--you've been arrested, but not yet convicted)
Anyone convicted of a crime punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year; (a felon)
A fugitive from justice;
An unlawful user of or addicted to any controlled substance; (including marijuana, medicinal or not)
Anyone adjudicated as a mental defective or has been committed to any mental institution;
An illegal alien;
Anyone discharged from the military under dishonorable conditions;
Anyone who has renounced his or her United States citizenship;
Anyone subject to a court order restraining the person from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner or child of the intimate partner;
Anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.

State law makes it illegal to purposely or knowingly purchase a firearm after the person has been convicted of felony, 45-8-313. Violators of this section may be sentenced to lifetime supervision by the state for the purpose of restricting the person's right to purchase and possess firearms, 45-8-314. Active supervision by a probation or parole officer is not required but may be imposed by the court. Violators may apply to the district court for the county in which the person resides for a permit to purchase and possess one or more firearms. This provision would conflict with federal law.

Minors

It is unlawful for a parent, guardian, or other person having charge or custody of a minor child under the age of 14 years to permit the minor child to carry or use in public any firearms, except when the child is accompanied by a person having charge or custody of the child or under the supervision of a qualified firearms safety instructor or an adult who has been authorized by the parent or guardian. (45-8-344)

A parent or guardian of a minor commits the offense of allowing possession of a weapon in a school building if the parent or guardian purposely and knowingly permits the minor to possess, carry, or store a weapon in a school building. (45-8-361)

Concealed Firearm Permit Reciprocity

All citations Montana Code Annotated (MCA) unless noted.