Does Tester have the starch?

Many Montana gun owners have asked me how we fared with the outcome of the recent Montana election for U.S. Senator. The short answer is, only time will tell.

As I've said before, Jon Tester is a decent guy, a guy with Montana soil on his hands and Montana culture in his veins. We can all be glad that he is not some wealthy carpetbagger from elsewhere trying to capture a cheap Senate seat in fly-over country. I know Jon Tester, and I think he will do OK for Montana if left to his own Montana instincts.

The problem is that he won't be left to his own instincts. Tester will come under a crushing barrage of pressure from many directions, the first of which will be from Tester's lead non-Montana helpmate, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York), aka Mr. Gun Control. Schumer is at the forefront of every gun control effort in the Senate.

While Jon Tester served in the Montana Legislature, I have seen him drift from his personal Montana political middle to near extremes under the influence of or pressure from extreme anti-liberty types.

Tester has made some very strong statements about his belief in and support for the right to keep and bear arms, and he did give the Montana Shooting Sports Association a very firm pledge to oppose any gun control in the U.S. Senate, notwithstanding any pressure to go along.

So what it comes down to is this: Will Tester assert the strength of character necessary to resist the pressure to acquiesce to gun control, especially when he's urged to get along with his party in the Senate?

I hope he will, but it won't be amiss for Montana gun owners to remind him regularly of his pledge to oppose all gun control under all conditions.

It will also be interesting to see if Tester can play an effective role in repeal of the Republican-launched Real ID Act, Patriot Act I, Patriot Act II, the Military Commission Act and other unacceptable federal incursions into our civil liberties.

Gary Marbut, of Missoula, is the president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association.