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Firearms Nation Podcast
FNP 252 : Defending Gun Rights: Montana AG Austin Knudsen's 2024 Legal Battles
00:39:24
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- [00:01]
Rick Levy
Welcome to the Firearms Nation podcast. Each week, go inside the minds of top competitive shooters, firearms instructors, gear and gun manufacturers, journalists and other people on the cutting edge of the firearms Nation. Join us and get answers to the questions you want to know. And now, here's your host, Rick Levy.
- [00:24]
Art
Welcome back, Austin. Attorney General Austin. And let me be the first on this podcast. I don't know what but to congratulate you on your reelection. I know it was, it was December of 2023, we last talked and you had just started your campaign and I hope that that was lucky that you were on the show that helped you get elected. I'm sure it was a lot more of you than being on the show, but congratulations.
- [00:55]
Attorney General Austin
I mean, you can take the credit. I, you bet. It's all you and your listeners. No, it was good. We, we had a very resounding victory. Montana is a red state and I won reelection by 20 points. So it was a blowout.
- [01:10]
Art
That's, that's fantastic. And you've got a completely red government at this point, correct?
- [01:19]
Attorney General Austin
We do. For the first time and I think close to a hundred years. We've got Republican Governor, Republican ag, all the rest of the, the Republican statewide electeds. We've got the Republican controlled House of Representatives in the state, Republican state Senate. We've got two Republican Congressmen and we now can say we sent John Tester home. We have two Republican U.S. senators. So really excited we were able to get Tim Sheehy elected. Tim's a, Tim's a Navy seal, amazing, successful business guy. But I mean, from my, for my standpoint, Tim, Tim's a gun guy. This is a guy who's pulled triggers for a living. He, he's a really, really down to earth personable person and I think he's going to do a really good job in the U.S. senate.
- [02:08]
Art
Did you catch any of Pete Hexit, Congressional or not congressional, but Senate confirmation hearings?
- [02:16]
Attorney General Austin
You know, today was a busy day for me. We, we were at our state legislature across the street here and I was, I, it was our first day of proposing our budget for the next two years. So I did not get to watch the, the Hegseth hearings. But I, I did hear some clips here just in the last hour and
- [02:34]
Art
I think things have changed. I mean, obviously state of Montana has changed for the better. You're kind of following along with, with everything else, you know. You know, we're less than a week away for the new Trump administration and I don't know, the people, I said they're very optimistic about how things are going to go. They know it's going to be a lot of work, but everyone's very optimistic. Is that what you're feeling in Montana?
- [02:57]
Attorney General Austin
Oh, for sure, we're very optimistic here, but, you know, the, the problem we have in Montana is making sure the Republicans don't fight amongst ourselves, frankly. But, but I'll tell you, I mean, I, I was in, I was in D.C. about a month ago. We had a Republican AG's meeting. Generally, I avoid D.C. like the plague. I, I really dislike that town and can't stand being there. But we thought it might be fun to go see what the town's temperature was, I guess. I guess political temperature following President Trump's reelection. And it wasn't quite the, the apoplexy and, and, you know, liberal tears in the street like we'd hoped for. But there, there seemed to be kind of a, A resignation in the town, I guess. You know, sitting around in the lounges at night listening to staffers, that it definitely was, Was. Was down, which to me was a good thing. Right, right. But, but it was a. It was definitely not like the first time he got elected. I think there was panic this time. I think they know what's in store. President Elect Trump has been very clear with what he's going to do, and I think everyone knows what to expect from him.
- [04:13]
Art
So how does a state like Montana, I know everyone now is. I mean, they're going to wait for the dust to settle. Right. Like all these cabinet positions confirmed, and obviously we have the war in Ukraine, the hostage situation, so there's some definite hotspots. But where does the state Montana do with, With a new administration like this? What are the, what do you guys do going forward? Are you, are you approaching them? Are you, are you looking for things that get done? Or are you more myopic in just dealing with what Montana is within Montana?
- [04:47]
Attorney General Austin
No, for sure. We, we. My office has been very engaged on federal issues, which is a change from my predecessor. Uh, my, My predecessor was, was technically a Republican, but very, very limited activity on the, on the federal scene. Since I've taken office four years ago, we've been really, really active in, in, in federal litigation, pushing back on the Biden administration and not just on the Second Amendment stuff, although that's certainly been a highlight for, for us and, and for me. Um, so, yeah, we are definitely talking to the incoming Trump administration. We, we. We've got some contacts in there. I'm not going to say I've got contact with the big guy. Because I don't. I'm, I'm, I'm just a little lowly state ag. But I think for us, our, our tone is going to shift. I mean, my office, we've been really, really aggressive about, you know, hitting, hitting Joe Biden's administration in the mouth. We file a lot of lawsuits where we've been very aggressive. That's going to pivot and change. Now we're hoping we don't have to get in situations where we have to sue, but when we do, it might be a situation where we're suing and working with a friendly administration to maybe get that settled before we have to go to protracted litigation. Don't know the answer to that for sure yet, but that's certainly the hope. But just with so many of the federal agencies that we fight all the time in Montana, whether it's the ATF or whether it's the epa, I mean, Montana, we're a huge energy state. We, we produce a lot of coal, we produce a lot of oil and gas. Those are really important to our state economy. They generate a lot of tax revenue for us. And for the last four years, we've just had an EPA that's just been throwing up every obstacle they can to shut those industries down. And, and, you know, we're having to file lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit. So really hopeful with, you know, a, a prospective energy secretary and Chris Wright. Here's a guy who knows the business, he knows what he's doing. Very successful. We're, we're hopeful that's going to turn around. So, yeah, yeah, I think it's going to be a new day and it's definitely going to affect how we do business day to day here.
- [07:02]
Art
Yeah, of course. I mean, we talk a lot about the firearms business and we're going to talk about some of the lawsuits that you filed. But yeah, Montana is as, as American as you can get. I mean, you guys are in the energy sector and you are the farming sector and the manufacturing sector. And I can only imagine that people are just chomping at the bits to get ready to basically get back to work. I mean, it's four years of everything just been put on hold and feeling dreary about, you know, what the future holds. And I mean, I think we, we dodged a bullet in this one.
- [07:41]
Attorney General Austin
Oh, I think so, too. Yeah. And it's, it's you, you brought up farming and ranching. I mean, that's, that's obviously a huge one for, for the state and for me, my background, you and I talked, I'm, I'm a farm and ranch kid. Still not quite sure how, how I ended up in the ag's office. But that's a tremendous part of our state's economy, that agriculture is our number one, one commodity and our number one business. So when you had Joe Biden doing things like trying to bring back Barack Obama's waters of the US rule, that was a huge shot. Just, just aimed directly at production agriculture. But look, that war on energy, that, that really affected agriculture as well. I mean, most people don't know this, but you know, the reason we're able to grow crops like we are in this country now is because we can, we can mass grow more and more food using fertilizer. Well, the single biggest source of produced fertilizer is natural gas production. It's a byproduct of our natural gas industry. That nitrogen that comes from natural gas production we can turn into fertilizer. I mean this, this isn't long division, but when you attack that industry, when you attack the oil and gas industry, you drive up the cost of fertilizer, you drive up the cost of diesel fuel. That's a tremendous cost for production agriculture. We have to burn lots and lots of diesel fuel in large tractors and large farming implements. So the last four years have been tough on Montana. I mean, Joe Biden, it's just been fight after fight after fighting and frankly a lot of it's just been ignorance. I mean, I'm under no illusion that an 80 plus year old senator from Delaware has any idea about production agriculture, but certainly his vice president did not. I don't think anyone in this cabinet had ever set foot in a tractor or in a wheat field. They just don't know these things. It's just, it's idealism, it's emotion and very little actual rational thought.
- [09:53]
Art
Yeah. And then, you know, they, they look at the size of the population like are we really affecting that many people by doing that? You know, we got 16, 16 million people living in New York County. They're more important than, than, you know, the small percentage of people that are in Montana. Regardless of the fact that Montana's producing all the food that everyone's eating. It kind of reminds me of Hunger Games. Right. Where. I don't know if you ever saw it. Did you see it?
- [10:24]
Attorney General Austin
I, I think I watched the first one. Long.
- [10:26]
Art
Okay. I only watched the first one too.
- [10:28]
Attorney General Austin
Yeah, my, my, my kids have read the books, but I, yeah, I mean, generally dystopian future. Yeah. Mass, mass entertainment of the people. Sure.
- [10:37]
Art
Right. And, and it's all the, the hard working people are the entertainment. So in this past four years, you know, we were talking about some of the briefs, the amicus briefs that you filed against the Biden administration. You, you picked that up this past year and some significant ones that I found that were very interesting. I mean, you, you went after Mexico, you, you got on board with Smith and Wesson. What, what was that about? That's, that's really interesting because that's very odd. Odd type of accusations that they were making.
- [11:13]
Attorney General Austin
Yeah, well, that's, this is a really important case and I'll try to, not to get too wonky, but basically, Mexico had the audacity to sue Smith and Wesson, Sig Sauer, Ruger. I mean, basically name every major firearms manufacturer in the U.S. mexico tried coming into federal court and suing those companies to blame for their cartel and gang violence. I mean, if that doesn't make you want to hit your head against a concrete wall, I don't know what will. You've got just probably one of the most corrupt federal governments in the entire world in Mexico, and they're going to try to come into our country and sue our manufacturers for their drug and cartel violence problem. They've disarmed their populace. They're corrupt through and through, most likely all the way to the top. Violence has gone through the roof in that country and they're going to come and try to blame us. I challenge your listeners and your viewers to, to find a single industry in the United States that is more heavily regulated than the production of firearms. I don't know that you're going to find one. So. But on top of that, we have what we call the, the Protection of Lawful Commerce and Arms Act. That was a federal act that was passed under President George W. Bush, and it gives tort protection for firearms manufacturers as long as their products are not built in a negligent way. Right. I mean, a Smith and Wesson revolver isn't going to blow up and hurt somebody. They're, they're responsibly manufactured. And as long as that's happening, those companies cannot be sued for a bad actor's use of their product. Right. Just, just like we, we wouldn't allow someone who mowed down a group of people using a Chevy Impala to come in and suddenly sue all the automobile manufacturers and say they're, they're creating weapons of death. That, that doesn't happen here. But for some reason, Mexico thought they could do it here. We had to fight this one out this was a slog. But we ended up going all the way to the U.S. supreme Court. And the U.S. supreme Court, even the liberals on the court, we got a nine to zero unanimous decision that Mexico did not have the ability to come into our federal courts and sue American manufacturers. So that was a really, really good, big win for us.
- [13:57]
Art
So they brought up the term proximate causation, which reminds me of another term, tortious interference. These are very legalese terms. So what was the correlation with proximate causation?
- [14:15]
Attorney General Austin
Well, proximate cause is a legal term of art. If there's any attorneys watching. I mean, you know, you're talking about tort cases, civil tort cases. Proximate cause is something you're, you're usually looking for. Did, did the, did the products defectiveness? What, what was that? The proximate cause of a harm. And that's what they were trying to argue here. The Protection of Lawful Commerce and Arms act had a couple of really, really narrow exceptions to it. And that was where Mexico was trying to wiggle in here and argue that, well, the PLCAA doesn't actually apply in this case because we fit within this exception. So they were trying to show proximate cause. I mean, you're always looking for proximate cause in a civil tort case. But I mean, just step back for a minute. American courts are for Americans. They're for American companies, American actors. And by actors, I mean citizens entities residing in the United States. You had a foreign nation come in here and try to avail themselves of the US Constitution and our, and our federal court system. That alone, I think is, is pretty staggering. I think that took a lot of gall on Mexico's part. But I mean, luckily we, we got the right decision here. And the U S. Supreme Court, United States, it unanimously tossed that.
- [15:46]
Art
No, I'm not trying to be conspiratorial or anything, but it seems like maybe they were put up to this. I don't know. It seems that perhaps there was a inside actor that wanted to bring this type of lawsuit but couldn't get anybody in America to do it. So they went to our neighbors in Mexico to do it. Just me grabbing something out of the air, but that's what it seems like.
- [16:08]
Attorney General Austin
Yeah, I mean, it's certainly likely. I mean, I, I, I, I look at just a, you basically have a failed state down there. I mean, I, I haven't set foot in Mexico in over 20 years. I have no intention of doing so unless something really drastic changes down there. But it's Dangerous yet it's, it's a failed state. You've got, you've got Mexican drug cartels openly controlling that country, threatening politicians, killing politicians at the state level, at the federal level. Huge amounts of cash the cartels are making. Just put this in perspective for you. We know for a fact Mexican drug cartels are making between 100 and $150 million per week. Just human trafficking on the southern border. Now that's not taking into account their normal day to day business of slinging illegal drugs and manufacturing illegal drugs and pushing them all over the world into America. That's just what they're getting for the disgusting sex crimes. They're doing the smuggling of people across the southern border and extorting them for goods and services. Put that in perspective. $150 million every week. That's a lot of resources. They can bribe a lot of Mexican politicians with that money and that's what's happening. But again, this is what happens when you have a disarmed populace. The good law abiding citizens of Mexico are not allowed to defend themselves against these bloodthirsty cartels. They're depending on their, on their federal government that largely is bought and paid for by the cartels. So they're really in a, in a terrible situation. I think it's just, it's such a stark reminder for Americans. It's right there. This is why we have a second amendment, that this is why it matters. Look just right over there across the border at what's going on. We don't have that here.
- [18:04]
Art
You can look at both borders. Both borders have the same problem. Up in Canada you have no right to carry a gun. But it looks like Canada is having its wakeup calls to reality. It's about time. And speaking of caring, Montana I guess is per capita the highest amount of gun owners in the country. Congratulations.
- [18:33]
Attorney General Austin
We will take that one. Yes, absolutely.
- [18:37]
Art
I think it's something like 66.3% of everybody. And it's funny, I was just reading a story that there's a place in Georgia where you're required as a citizen of this city. City to carry a gun. You're required. So I, I, I find that very interesting.
- [18:58]
Attorney General Austin
That's been talked about in our state legislature, but frankly, it's probably not needed here. I mean we've, we've got way more guns than people in Montana. That's just the way we like it.
- [19:07]
Art
And now you guys had, you have constitutional carry in, in Montana, correct?
- [19:14]
Attorney General Austin
Yeah, that was passed. We, we finally got that across the finish line in 2021. Uh, that was carried by a good friend of mine, Seth Bergley, who incidentally is one of the co owners of Shield Arms. You, you're any kind of a gun person. You know, Shield Arms and their products. But Seth was in the state legislature, actually served with me for a couple sessions when I was in there. And he got that passed in 2021. Yes.
- [19:41]
Art
Do you find that most people. Because I know here in Florida, we, we have constitutional carrying, thankfully. But I always tell people, you know, if you have the ability to get your ccw, to get it, because it is still our right to get that and it allows us for reciprocity in other states. Is that the feeling in Montana that people still go for both or are they just sticking with customers for carry?
- [20:03]
Attorney General Austin
You know, I guess I don't know the numbers. I mean, I, I tell people there, there are legitimate reasons in Montana to still get a concealed weapons permit. I mean, the, the top two reasons are, number one, it waives a federal background check. If you're going to purchase a retail firearm, it waives the instant nix check. That's worth it right there to me. But also in Montana, you're allowed to carry in a state government building if you have a concealed weapons permit.
- [20:34]
Art
Interesting.
- [20:34]
Attorney General Austin
So like for myself, yeah, no, I mean, I carry every day. And to do that legally, you have to have a concealed weapons permit to be inside of my building. Any, any of the agency buildings, the state capitol, down the list. So as long as you've got a valid concealed weapon permit in Montana, you can carry in state buildings. Does not apply to federal buildings. I want to be really, really clear. Still can't go in the post office or, you know, the local federal building. That's federal jurisdiction. And that's still a no. No. But at least in Montana, if you've got a concealed weapon permit, you can carry in state government buildings.
- [21:14]
Art
So you sued the Biden administration, Merrick Garland, on a couple of cases as well. And was one of those about ccw? I can't remember.
- [21:28]
Attorney General Austin
No, the two big ones, we sued the Biden administration and particularly atf. The first one was on forced reset triggers, and the second one was the frame and receiver rule. And you know what this is, and your listeners do, too, but those were two juice accessories that you could buy off the shelf. There was no requirement for a background check. They're not a firearm. They do not fit within the federal government's legal definition of the term firearm. That's a defined term in the National Firearms Act. And what Joe Biden and his ATF director tried to do is they tried to shoehorn that definition of, of, of those accessories into the definition of firearm and basically make them a Class 3. And they didn't just want to make him a firearm, they want to make him a Class 3, some of those things. So that's Congress's job. You know, the, the, the frame and receiver rule, that one has been in place for, for well over a decade. Whether, whether you were you, you're somebody who liked to tinker and build your own with, with an 80% receiver, you know, may, maybe you picked up a, a mock Glock, what, whatever the case may be, some people like to build their own. We have a tradition of building our own firearms in this country, going all the way back to pre revolution. That, that's something that we do in this country. It's, and it's 100% legal. You, you can do that in this country. Joe Biden, after telling everyone, no, no, we're not going to change the rule. It's going to stay the same as it's always been. ATF did exactly what we expected them to do under Joe Biden and which is do a complete 180 jerk the rug out from under millions of Americans and prospectively turn them into felons overnight. That's what this rule would have done. So we've been really successful in those. I mean they just keep trying this, whether it's at the ATF or the epa. But the ATF has been particularly bad. They promulgate a rule, they don't tell anybody about it. They don't go through notice and comment. They just try to shove something through and we have to sue them and say, no, we don't have that authority. Only Congress can make the laws. ATF doesn't actually get to make law and we get the laws blocked again and again and again, but we just have to keep, keep beating our heads against a concrete wall, I guess. But look, we, we keep winning. So it's, it's been good.
- [24:05]
Art
And they lost on pistol braces too.
- [24:09]
Attorney General Austin
Correct. That was another one. I mean that, that was a big one for me. I, I own a couple pistol braces. I know a lot of people that own pistol braces. That's a, that's an accessory. That's literally a piece of plastic that is not a firearm in any way, shape or form. It's never been classified as a firearm by the atf. But, but there again, after telling everyone for years, oh no, no, we, we promise we're we're not going to mess with this. This long standing practice and definition at ATF, what do they do? They did a complete 180 and made criminals out of a lot of people. So we had to sue them on that one too. So same thing. I mean just bottom line is that legally Congress and the Senate is who makes the law. If Congress wants to declare pistol braces firearm, they can do that, but they have to do it, not etf.
- [25:05]
Art
So in a situation like this, I'm just curious how it works. Are you specifically notified that this ruling is coming down or do constituents contact you or is it other ags that contact you? I mean, how does the process get started for you and other AGs to sue and bring it forward and maybe always already get to the Supreme Court with this?
- [25:33]
Attorney General Austin
That's a great question. I mean sometimes it's stuff we're paying attention to, sometimes on, on smaller stuff or maybe not quite as flashy as stuff. It might be something that, that, that we've missed. So what has to happen here is they, they have to put notice of this in the Federal Register. Whenever they're going to promulgate or push out a new rule, they have to give notice and that's required by federal law under the Federal Administrative Procedures act, the apa. So whenever there's a new rule, they have to put it out like they have to publish it. Hey, we're thinking about doing this. You have X number of days to comment. Yeah, I like this. No, I don't like this. And we promise we'll take those comments into consideration. What happens here very often is especially, especially under Biden, one of two things. They either go through the correct process, get inundated with negative comments and then just ignore them and move forward with their rule anyway. Or I mean, more, more alarming. We've had a number of cases where the Biden administration has just flatly ignored the Administrative Procedures Act. They have not gone through proper notice or proper comment period because that's also set in state law or, excuse me, in federal law. They're just, they just ignore that because they know they're going to get answers they don't like. So they'll just, they'll just try to shove a rule through in the dark of night. We didn't so much see that with the atf, but we've certainly seen that with some of the other agencies. Education, that was one. We saw a lot of those bad behaviors or I mean, sometimes they'll do a really, really truncated notice period. They'll do it, at odd times. They'll, they'll, they'll hold a, they'll hold a public meeting. For instance, here in Montana, we, we had an instance where the Biden administration proposed changing a bunch of federal grazing laws. And I, I, again, I don't want to get bogged down on this, but that was going to affect a lot of rural farmers and ranchers. And so what the federal agency did that, the Bureau of Land Management, they, they held a public meeting on one day in June at 2:00 in the afternoon. Well, let me tell you what farmers and ranchers are not doing at 2 o' clock in the afternoon on a nice summer day. They're not participating in a federal meeting. They're probably fixing fence. They're probably working cows. They're probably working their fields. They're, they're busy. The Biden administration knew that. They, they were, they, they, they were gaming. It was, it was dirty pool is what it was. But, but it's a lot of nonsense like that that we, we end up having to sue. And again, I mean, our, our success rate has been very, very high on those lawsuits.
- [28:34]
Art
So now that we have a new administration coming in, the ATF director resigned. Do we need an atf? Do you think,
- [28:48]
Attorney General Austin
boy, if I had my druthers, that the ATF would be a convenience store? I mean, I, I think that just sounds like a lot of fun. I, Look, I, I've got problems with the Gun Control Act. I've got problems with the National Firearms Act. I, I am actually one of the people who thinks that we probably don't need an atf. I think this stuff can be done at the state level. We're fully capable of doing that at the individual states. I think that's where this should be. It's probably questionable how the Gun Control act and the National Firearms act even came into existence. I mean, it's the old commerce clause argument that's very, very tenuous in my opinion. So I am all for getting rid of the atf. I don't think we need them. Near as I can tell, they're good at, they're good at doing Wacos and Ruby Ridges and a lot of other horrifying stuff like that.
- [29:46]
Art
Well, I know government is really good at doing government. That's the bigger the bureaucracy, the better they are at doing bureaucracy crap. So, yeah, who knows? I mean, I do have a lot of ATF agent friends. I hate to see them lose their jobs, but obviously there's a problem that needs to be addressed. And I know what the answer is going to be. But hopefully, you know, like, we started this show off with. I mean, we were very optimistic on where things are going because I can tell you, like, a couple months ago, I was not optimistic about anything. Speaking of optimism, unfortunately, I won't be going to shot show this year, But I know you and the state of Montana is going. Not the whole state, but a lot of people. What, what's the gist of bringing all you folk to Nevada to, to lay, to lay claim there?
- [30:43]
Attorney General Austin
Well, I mean, I'll, I'll back up. I mean, my, my wife and I have been going to shot show for, for over a decade. I mean, we, we were, we were going down there and getting in there before I, I had any kind of title. Let's just. I'm a gun nerd. And if you've been around shot show, you know, that's, that's like Disneyland. So. But no, it's great now, Now I get to go officially, I, I go, I go with our state department of commerce, which is not one of my agencies, but I, I appreciate they, that the governor and his staff have figured out that I'm a bit of a gun nut and know a few people in the industry. So they, they let me tag along. We're, we're trying to recruit businesses. I mean, real candidly, that's, that's what we're about in Montana. Our governor is a very successful business guy. He gets business, small business, big business. He knows what we need for tax climate, he knows what we need for regulatory climate. And he's done a really, really good job at building that climate here in Montana, along with our state legislature. So we are really trying to attract those businesses. We've got a really burgeoning firearms industry in Montana, accessories industry in Montana, ammunition. We're seeing more and more ammunition and component manufacturers moving into the state, which for a reloader like me, that's fantastic. I mean, anybody who wants to build primers or start manufacturing smokeless gunpowder is, is all right in my book. So that's the kind of stuff we're doing. We're going down there, we're doing something a bit innovative this time. If, you know, shot show at all those booths are expensive. If you're any kind of an exhibitor, whether you're a manufacturer, whether you're a retailer, to actually get show space at shot show is pretty expensive. That's done through the national shooting sports Foundation. That's not always the easiest thing for a new startup. If you're making some Kind of a gun widget. If you're a holster manufacturer, you know, maybe you're, maybe you've come up with some, some new thing. The cost of a booth at Shot show might not be in your budget. So we have actually blatantly stolen this from the state of Wyoming. But we're, we're helping those little businesses out. We've got a, a bigger show space for the state this time. And we're going to allow some of the smaller Montana companies to come in, set up in that space to, to show their wares. But it's, it's all, it's also great for the, for the state. Right. Like we get to show we're open for business. You know, hopefully we can, we can grab some of those big manufacturers when they go by. I don't want to name any names, but we've certainly had some success with this and more and more are looking, but that's really what we're trying to do. We're, we're trying to recruit those, those good paying jobs, those good people. You know, if, if you're somebody who's, who's making firearms or making parts or involved in the industry, Montana's a pretty great place to live. You know, like you said, highest per capita firearms. We do a lot of hunting, great outdoor opportunities, wonderful tax climate. So yeah, we're, we're just trying to show off the state. Plus I get to go down and walk around and see my friends and see what's new.
- [34:00]
Art
You know, it's always a good time. And you know, it's funny, as you were talking about that, I was thinking there's some gun manufacturers that used to be up in the Northeast that really were in jeopardy, being sued by their states. And I couldn't imagine trying to operate in a situation like that. So coming to a place like Montana would be like a dream for some of these places.
- [34:30]
Attorney General Austin
Well, that's. You should come down and come with me and spread that word just like that.
- [34:35]
Art
I wish I can go. I'm gonna try and make it to NRA this year. That's pretty close. That's very cool. And speaking of firearms, I noticed you have that. Is that a Remington behind you on your shelf?
- [34:51]
Attorney General Austin
This? That's a Winchester model 1894. That's actually an original Winchester 94. That was our State highway patrol's original issue duty rifle. And so that rifle right there is actually one of those original issued duty rifles to the Montana Highway Patrol. It's got the serial number right on it, not the serial number Excuse me. The badge number for the trooper who owned that rifle, and he actually, he donated it back to the highway patrol as a showpiece. Our State Highway Patrol really didn't know where to put it, and I said, oh, I do. That's going right in my office.
- [35:30]
Art
That's awesome. I like your license plate. Freedom. Good for you.
- [35:35]
Attorney General Austin
Yep.
- [35:37]
Art
Well, so, besides shot show, what. What's coming up in your. Any big plans for the administration that, that you got going on for the next couple years?
- [35:46]
Attorney General Austin
You know, this. This will be my second term where what we're really hoping to do is, is to work with the Trump administration. My. My primary job is, is to protect the rights of Montanans. Now, as we said, it's.
- [35:58]
Art
We're.
- [35:59]
Attorney General Austin
We're. We're a Republican state through and through, all the way through now. So really looking forward to working with our federal delegation. I'm. I'm hoping, honestly, I'm really hoping we can work on. On the National Firearms Act. I would love to see suppressors get. Get deregulated and just be treated like what they are, which is a muffler. They save ears, they reduce recoil. If you're not shooting a polite firearm, I just. I don't know what to do for you yet. Get there. And once you get there, there's no going back. But, you know, I see such potential in the suppressor industry, and we just need to get the government out of the way. That. That really is something I would really love to see the Trump administration take up. But, you know, big picture, we've got a lot of work to do here in Montana. I mean, the southern border and drugs. You know, I know this, this is a firearm show, but probably my single biggest goal domestically, at least here in Montana, we've got a tremendous cartel. Fentanyl and methamphetamine problem in Montana. You maybe wouldn't think that because we're so far from the southern border, but we've got two. Two Mexican drug cartels operating in Montana, and we've got a huge, huge fentanyl and meth problem in the state, and that's all coming from the cartels and the southern border. So that's an area I'm really anxious to see what President Elect Trump does and hopefully to work with them, because, boy, until we get a handle on that southern border, the front door is just wide open. We're just letting the stuff walk into our country, and it's costing us lives in Montana. Our fentanyl overdose deaths in Montana are up thousands of percent just in the last couple years, so it really is a huge problem.
- [38:07]
Art
Wow. Well, again, optimistic what's to come. Thank you for coming on the show again. It's always great to talk to very intelligent attorneys who are bringing it to the system and doing such a great job. And you know us in the gun world, we, we appreciate everything that you're doing because it's very important. So thank you very much.
- [38:38]
Attorney General Austin
Well, I appreciate being on. I, I, I, I don't know about my intelligence, but I know a little bit about firearms once in a while and some of the federal cases that we file. But no, I, I, this is always fun to be on with you. I, I really appreciate you having me on. Appreciate your listeners and anytime.
- [38:54]
Art
All right, take care and good luck. All right.
- [38:56]
Attorney General Austin
Thanks, Art.
- [38:58]
Rick Levy
Thank you for listening to the Firearms Nation podcast. We hope you enjoy the show. Go to firearmsnation.com right now for show notes, awesome videos, and be sure to sign up to get your free firearms training ebook. Come back next week for another episode of the Firearms Nation podcast. Join the nation.