Free Republic

Montana’s office of governor, lieutenant governor, and the U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Senator Jon Tester are up for election in 2024. Montana is considered a Republican stronghold. The Republican primary for governor totaled 78,667 votes. The Democrat primary for governor totaled 54,402 votes. Democratic Party Senator Tester has become an anomaly among statewide elected positions in Montana.Republican Governor Greg Gianforte is popular. He is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment in his words and actions and is almost certainly going to win.Ryan Busse, the Democratic candidate for governor, was an executive at Kimber. He wrote a book...

Gabriel Metcalf of Billings, Montana, has accepted a plea deal in the Gun Free School Zone (GFSZ) case, which has been extensively covered by AmmoLand. The plea deal appears to be for probation only, with forfeiture of the single-shot Rossi shotgun and six rounds of ammunition. There is no mention of a fine in the plea agreement. The right to appeal is preserved on page 7 of the agreement. The plea deal specifically preserves the right to appeal the conviction based on the motion to dismiss entered on October 10, 2023. The motion to dismiss made two arguments. First, the...

In the ongoing Gun Free School Zone Act (GFSZ) case in Billings, Montana, the trial date is currently set for March 25, 2024. The process is a long and difficult one for Gabriel Metcalf and his mother, Vivian. Because this is a criminal, not a civil, case. Gabriel’s freedom is at risk. The current judge, Federal District Judge Susan P. Watters, has ruled the GFSZ to be constitutional, and the Montana Establishment of Individual Licensure law is insufficient to be an exception to the GFSZ. Going through the process of a challenge to the constitutionality of a criminal charge is...

On January 31, 2024, US District Court Judge Susan P. Watters published an opinion on the motion to dismiss the Gun Free School Zone case in Billings, Montana. She found the Gun Free School Zone Act (GFSZA) to be constitutional. The case has been covered extensively here on AmmoLand. The person charged, Gabriel Metcalf, had reason to carry a firearm for his own defense and that of others outside his home in Billings, Montana. His home is across the street from an elementary school. The school was not in session while he was carrying outside his home.Gabriel Metcalf’s primary defense...

The case is being prosecuted against Gabriel Metcalf, 49-years-old. To sum up the case to present, Gabriel came to Billings about a decade ago to help his mother at a difficult time in her life. She needed a new roof on her house, because she had befriended a drug addict who took advantage of her. Gabriel is skilled in the construction trades. He was the child who answered his mother’s call, put on a new roof, and stayed to help his mother, Vivian.A new neighbor rented the basement of the house next door, and became a serious threat. Vivian and...

The Gun Free School Zone Act (GFSZA) has a challenge in federal court; the case is USA v. Metcalf in Montana. It is a full-fledged game on!The case was covered early and in-depth by AmmoLand. It seems such a slam-dunk for the Second Amendment, a major question was: would the United States Attorney for Montana see the case as a loser and, rather than risk a major Second Amendment win, simply dismiss the case?AmmoLand was one of the first to cover the USA v Metcalf case. AmmoLand coverage has been far better than any other outlet. Russel A. Hart is...

Gary Marbut and the Montana Shooting Sports Association (MSSA) have scored another victory in restoring the right to keep and bear arms in Montana. The Montana Urban Transportation District (MUTD) has removed its ban on the carry or transport of weapons on the vehicles of the Mountain Line in Missoula. Gary Marbut is the right to keep and bear arms guru in Montana. He is responsible for writing and passing most of the Montana gun laws. Those laws have done a great deal to restore the right to keep and bear arms (RKBA). In 2016, MSSA requested MUTD remove its...

Gabriel Metcalf is out of jail, but with a GPS ankle monitor, for which he must pay $9.50 daily or nearly $300 monthly.In the Gun Free School Zone case in Billings, Montana, Gabriel Metcalf had pre-trial detention without bail changed to release on his own recognizance due to the facts and the excellent work done by his Federal Defender, Russell Hart. Judge Cavan realized Gabriel was not a threat and released him with some restrictions.As Gabriel was about to be released, the Yellowstone Detention Facility administration told him he could not leave. Someone had discovered a warrant for his arrest....

On the morning of September 12, 2023, a bird hunter was after upland game in a shelter belt in Montana, about 15 miles south of Choteau. Suddenly, a large grizzly bear burst out of the brush and weeds, charging directly at the hunter full tilt.Bird hunters tend to be on full alert when expecting to jump-shoot birds out of cover. Your senses and reflexes are on a razor’s edge. You have an appendage (finger or thumb) on the safety. You stay alert to any movement or noise, anticipating a bird might rocket out. The shotgun has a round chambered and...

A surprise development has come to light in the Gun Free School Zone Case involving Gabriel Metcalf in Billings, Montana. As they were processing Gabriel for release from jail on his personal recognizance under the Federal charges, they informed him that he could not leave. Reports say his attorney, Russell Hart, responded by saying, “No, we have an order from the judge for his release.” They then informed Hart that the charges on this warrant are not federal; they are local charges.They had not served the warrant, but the jail refused to release Gabriel due to the warrant’s existence. No...

On September 21, 2023, a detention hearing for Gabriel Metcalf was re-opened, with a motion granted to the defense by Judge Cavan. The prosecutor, Thomas K. Godfrey, had opposed the hearing, claiming there was no significant change of information from the initial detention hearing held on August 24, 2023. At the end of the hearing, Judge Cavan released Gabriel on his own recognizance, with restrictions, to his mother’s home at 430 Broadwater Avenue in Billings, Montana, where he has lived for the past decade and more. Vivian, Gabriel’s mother, and a neighbor who owned a gunshop next to Vivian’s alterations...

The controversial Gun Free School Zone case, where Gabriel Metcalf has been in pre-trial detention for a month, has a detention hearing scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday morning, September 21, 2022.Russel Hart, the federal public defender for Gabriel Metcalf, asked for the hearing, citing new evidence that was not available at the first detention hearing. Shortly after Gabriel’s arrest, seemingly by an ATF/Billings Police Task Force, the hearing took place. The prosecuting attorney, Assistant United States Attorney Thomas K. Godfrey, had opposed the re-opening of the detention hearing. Godfrey indicated to Judge Cavan that he had sufficient information and that...

On 22 August 2023, Gabriel Metcalf was arrested for possessing a firearm in a federal gun-free zone in Billings, Montana. Gabriel and his mother live across the street from the Broadwater Elementary School. Billings police officers had previously told Gabriel and his mother, Vivian, that Gabriel was not breaking any laws.Some people had complained when they saw Gabriel outside his home with a single-shot 20 gauge shotgun. Gabriel had armed himself because of a two-year campaign of terror conducted by a former neighbor, David Carpenter, and associates. Over the course of two years, Carpenter was the subject of a restraining...

In the ongoing Gun Free School Zone case against Gabriel Metcalf in Billings, Montana, Gabriel’s federal public defender, Russel Hart, has filed a motion requesting a detention hearing. The Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Thomas K. Godfrey has indicated he opposes re-opening a detention hearing. This means Godfrey wants to keep Gabriel Metcalf in a federal lockup in the Yellowstone County Detention Facility until trial. A trial could be years away. This case could go all the way to the Supreme Court. The magistrate judge, Timothy J. Cavan, ordered the United States representative in this matter, AUSA Godfrey, to file...

Gabriel Metcalf was arrested in Billings, Montana, for violating the Gun Free School Zone Act on August 22, 2023. The Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) Thomas K. Godfrey asked for pre-trial detention at the August 25, 2023, preliminary hearing. The reason for pre-trial detention is listed in the image. The Magistrate Judge, Timothy J. Cavan, granted the Order of Detention for Gabriel Metcalf. The reasons checked on the order of detention pending trial form is a claim the judge believed the Government had proven, by clear and convincing evidence, that no condition or combination of conditions of release will reasonably...

City Of Billings vs David Lee Carpenter Plea Agreement 11-29-2022 Gabriel Metcalf is being held in federal custody without any prior convictions, violence, threats, or use of a weapon. He is incarcerated because he exercised his First and Second Amendment rights.In the affidavit of a criminal complaint for the arrest of Gabriel Metcalf in Billings, Montana’s Gun-Free School Zone case, ATF Task Force officer and Billings Police officer Dustin Stroble wrote the following:Per dispatch narrative, METCALF lives at 430 Broadwater and patrols his yard due to a protection order he believes is in place and is trying to protect his...

With the ongoing case in Billings, Montana, where Billings Police collaborated with federal officials to arrest Gabriel (Gabe Metcalf) for exercising his Second Amendment rights, a recap of the history of the federal Gun Free School Zone Acts (GFSZA) is in order. The GFSZA appears to be designed as a direct attack on the exercise of Second Amendment rights and the right to be able to defend against criminal attacks.The first GFSZA was passed into law in 1989-90. The federal Gun-Free School Zone Act was introduced by some of the most rabid Anti-Second Amendment zealots, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and...

Gabriel Metcalf sits in jail, without the possibility of bail, for defending his mother, Vivian, and their home in Billings, Montana.Their modest home is across the street from the Broadwater Elementary School. Gabriel was keeping watch with a single-shot shotgun and a camera after numerous threats and attacks against him and his elderly mother. They had a restraining order (order of protection), to keep a former neighbor, David Lee Carpenter, from coming within 1,500 feet of them or their home. The complaint lists a number of threats from David Lee Carpenter and a person who was living with him at...

Modest home in Billings, Montana, where Gabriel (Gabe) Metcalf lives with his mother. On Wednesday, August 23, 2023, Gabe Metcalf was arrested by ATF agents outside his home. Metcalf was arrested by federal agents of the ATF for possessing a firearm in a federal Gun Free School Zone in Billings Montana. A search warrant was executed after the arrest. The warrant shows the agents seized a single shot, break-open shotgun, six rounds of ammunition, and a Samsung phone.Billings police had several contacts with Gabe prior to the arrest by federal agents. It has been reported Billings police stated he was...

A preliminary appearance has been scheduled for Gabriel Cowan Metcalf on the charge of possessing a firearm in violation of the federal Gun Free School Zone Act in Billings, Montana. The Gun Free School Zone Act is a controversial law that had been found to be unconstitutional in 1994 and then was slightly altered. It has not been considered by the Supreme Court since 1994, long before the Heller, McDonald, and Bruen decisions. The preliminary appearance will be on Monday, 28 August, at 9 AM. The criminal complaint has been posted. According to the criminal complaint, Billings Police had received...