Petition to allow guns in schools falls short

After failing to gain traction, state Legislature candidate Chet Billi’s proposal to allow teachers to carry concealed weapons will not be on this year’s ballot.

Billi, 18, is running as a Republican for Whitefish’s House District 5 against Democrat Dave Fern.

His petition called to “allow any school employee, with a valid permit, to possess and carry a concealed handgun in a school.” As of Friday, Billi collected 30 of the required 24,174 valid signatures for the petition to be placed on the Nov. 8 ballot.

He said he’s not surprised the petition fell short of the goal.

“I didn’t realize how much time needs to be devoted to something like this if it’s going to go anywhere and I just didn’t have the time,” he said. While the concealed carry proposal isn’t part of his campaign platform, Billi said it’s something he hopes to return to in the future.

“It depends on what happens moving forward, it’s something that I would like to see happen, but I don’t know exactly what the future holds. I definitely plan on doing something with it either as a citizen or in the Legislature,” he said.

Billi proposed the petition last June before announcing his state Legislature campaign in the fall. A Whitefish native, Billi graduated from Whitefish High School this spring. An important part of his campaign is fighting what he sees as an over-reaching federal government and to “protect Montana’s sovereignty,” he told the Pilot last August.

“Issues like education, health care, job growth and the economy — those should not be the concern of the federal government,” he said. “The states can handle that better.”

As November nears, he said he’s optimistic about his chances in the election.

“I’m feeling pretty good,” he said. “It’s a tough race, and it’s going to take a lot of work, but if I work as hard as I can and combine that with the amount of support I’m getting both from the constituents and behind the scenes, I think we’ve got a good shot.”