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Attorney general opinion on city's gun background checks expected soon
Montana Attorney General Tim Fox likely will issue his legal opinion in the next week on a universal background check ordinance passed by the Missoula City Council, according to Eric Sell, his spokesman.
Rep. Austin Knudsen, R-Culbertson, the speaker of the Montana House, announced the night the Missoula City Council passed the measure in September that he would ask for a legal opinion from Fox to see if it conflicts with state law.
The Missoula ordinance mandates that a background check be performed on all gun sales between private parties in city limits, with a limited set of exceptions. Such checks previously were not required.
Under state law, Fox had three months from Oct. 18, when he accepted the request for a legal opinion on the ordinance, to either issue the document or request additional time. Sell said the attorney general has informed Knudsen the opinion wasn’t “quite ready yet” by the time the deadline came.
He said Thursday he expects Fox will issue the opinion “in the next week or so.”
Councilman Bryan von Lossberg said he introduced the ordinance in 2015 after receiving requests from residents of his ward who are members of the national advocacy group Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
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