Montana
Canadian Man Sentenced For Gun Smuggling: Inside The Trafficking Scheme
A Canadian man is being ordered to spend a year and a half in a U.S. prison after pleading guilty to a scheme to buy guns in several Montana cities and then take them back across the border to sell.
The sentencing comes this week in U.S. District Court, a few weeks after the defendant pled guilty.
It marks the latest case where someone tried to take firearms that are more readily available in the states, and then take them back to sell on the black market in Canada, where certain guns are in high demand due to Canadian regulations.
Montana officers can confiscate your guns for this specific reason
How did the British Columbia man acquire the guns?
Federal prosecutors say 27-year-old Haptei Kozak or Kelowna, British Columbia had been accused of buying 12 handguns, mostly 9 millimeters, using an alias and a Montana driver’s license with a phony Missoula address. Prosecutors say he bought guns in Missoula, Kalispell, Butte, and Helena in a 45-day period starting last September.
Federal authorities say he was apprehended with the guns in his pickup last March in a case that involved US Customs and Border Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and the US Attorney’s Office District of Montana.
A growing problem of black market weapons
There’s been a growing problem in the past few years of thieves attempting to acquire guns in the United States and then get them across the border. As the CBC has reported, guns that sell in the States for a few hundred dollars can be worth thousands of dollars in Canada.
U.S. Attorney for Montana, Jessie Laslovich, says the case is part of an “epidemic of gun violence” both nationally and internationally, saying gun crime “knows no boundaries.”
“The courts have delivered a firm and unwavering message to those who seek to profit from violence and chaos,” said HSI Acting Special Agent in Charge Tim Lenzen. “Let this be a clear warning: we will not tolerate those who fuel crime through the black market. We will find you, you will be prosecuted, and justice will prevail.”
Fall is Best Season in Troy, MT
MISSOULA, Mont. — The Clark Fork River has long been a defining feature of Missoula, shaping the city’s culture, economy and outdoor lifestyle.
The river is so closely tied to the area that it helped inspire the well-known book and film “A River Runs Through It.” But local conservation advocates say its importance goes far beyond scenery.
“Without the Clark Fork River, Missoula would just be another town,” said Lisa Ronald, Northern Rockies associate conservation director for American Rivers. “We wouldn’t be the River City. I think we’re known in Montana as Missoula the River City, and it’s really because of the Clark Fork River and its central role in business, in economics, in recreation, that really makes Missoula the town that it is.”
Carmen Murill, a field organizer with Wild Montana, said the river is deeply woven into daily life for people who live in Missoula.
“A lot of us would wonder what to do on a beautiful or a rainy summer day,” Murill said. “I mean, it’s really a lifeforce of town. And I think it’s pretty unique that Missoula, as a community is living and breathing on both sides of the river. It’s really like two downtowns but connected by the Clark Fork.”
Conservation groups say protecting the river begins with community involvement.
Advocates encourage residents and visitors to spend time outdoors, whether on a trail, in the woods or along the river, and to learn how they can become better stewards of the environment.
MISSOULA — Sam Forstag edged out Ryan Busse to secure the Democratic nomination in Montana’s 1st Congressional District.
Busse conceded the race to Forstag on Wednesday morning. Forstag had trailed behind Busse Tuesday evening, but he made up ground as the votes were counted into the early hours of Wednesday morning. The other two candidates in the race, Russl Cleveland and Matt Rains, are sitting at third and fourth, respectively.
Forstag leads in close race for Montana’s 1st Congressional District
Forstag spent eight years as a wildland firefighter, including four as a smokejumper, and he’s been vice president of the local National Federation of Federal Employees union. Last week, U.S. House of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-New York, held a rally in Missoula to support Forstag’s campaign.
He told MTN on Tuesday that his campaign has been for the working class.
“We got a whole lot of people here that have been working their tail off to finally get some working-class representation in Washington,” Forstag noted. “So proud of everything we’ve done and so grateful.”
Forstag further noted he wants Montanans to be able to afford groceries, have universal free childcare and restore and expand Affordable Health Care Act subsidies.
“Hearing people’s stories and struggles and commonalities in the ways that we’re all fighting in the system that does not serve us so often, and the government serves corporations and the richest people in this country more than working people. It has been frustrating and saddening, but it has also inspired so much hope in me, like the fixes we can actually make,” he told MTN.
The 1st Congressional District covers much of western Montana, including Kalispell, Missoula, Butte and Bozeman. It is currently held by Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Montana, who chose not to seek reelection.
By securing the nomination, Forstag is slated tol face off against Libertarian candidate Nick Sheedy and Republican candidate Aaron Flint in November.
Brian Miller won the Democratic primary Tuesday for the U.S. House seat in Montana’s eastern district.
The Associated Press called the race for Miller, an attorney in Helena, who fended off a challenge from state Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy, a longtime legislator from Box Elder, and Sam Lux, a farrier from Great Falls.
In the Republican and rural eastern district, any Democrat will be an underdog, and Miller will face off against incumbent Republican U.S. Rep. Troy Downing, who was unopposed Tuesday.
Libertarian Patrick McCracken is also running.
In the primary, Miller took 58% of the vote. Lux took 27% and Windy Boy took 16%, according to the Montana Secretary of State’s website.
In April, Windy Boy paused his campaign amid “serious sexual abuse” allegations raised by the Montana Democratic Party — but Windy Boy restarted his campaign and later called the allegations “political attacks.”
Miller is representing the victim of the alleged abuse and her mother, although he said he didn’t take on the role until after Windy Boy initially suspended his campaign.
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