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Montana’s congressional delegation is split on whether gun control is needed after Sunday’s mass shooting in Orlando, Fla., the worst in U.S. history. U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., told The Gazette it was past time to stop selling weapons to people on terrorist watch lists, as well as people who have been declared mentally ill by a court of law. U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., disagreed, telling Senate colleagues the focus needed to be on radical Islam and ISIS, not the Second Amendment. It was the same focus Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., called for Sunday. Given that Sunday’s gunman, 29-year-old

Sens. Steve Daines and Mark Warner are asking the leaders of the House and Senate Armed Services panels to include a provision in the final defense authorization bill that would elevate U.S. Cyber Command to a full, unified command. “At a time when ISIS is rapidly recruiting online and the cyber battlefield is evolving at a rapid rate, the United States needs to ensure cyber warfare is at the top of our priorities,” the duo said in a letter today addressed to Sens. John McCain and Jack Reed and Reps. Mac Thornberry and Adam Smith . The pair originally planned

On Monday, Montana Senator Steve Daines expressed his condolences to the families of those involved in the horrific Orlando shooting on the Senate floor. “My deepest condolences are with the victims and the families of this appalling attack. I am grateful for the law enforcement and first responders who bravely put their lives on the line to save others,” said Sen. Steve Daines. Senator Jon Tester released this statement on Sunday saying in part, “we must come together to put an end to this terrorism, intolerance and senseless violence that is attempting to steal our freedom.”

Sunday morning’s Orlando attack has renewed conversation in the Senate about proposed firearm legislation. Democratic Senators are pushing for a new vote on the “Denying Firearms and Explosives to Dangerous Terrorists Act,” which would keep any suspected terrorist from buying firearms in America. This isn’t the first time this legislation has come up. Neither Senator Jon Tester or Senator Steve Daines acted as co-sponsors when the bill was defeated last December, but Senator Tester voted to support it while Senator Daines voted against it.  On Monday, several Democratic Senators from California, New York, Connecticut and Florida revisited the idea and

Earlier this spring, Montana Republican Sen. Steve Daines drew loud applause from a crowd of union activists — traditionally a Democratic constituency — with his stinging attack of U.S. EPA’s Clean Power Plan. “You talk to our unions back in Montana, they sometimes wonder if [EPA] shouldn’t stand for the Employment Prevention Agency,” Daines told the North America’s Building Trades Union at its Washington, D.C., convention. He warned that thousands of “good-paying union” jobs would disappear because of the administration’s efforts to limit carbon emissions from power plants. Only a few days later, Daines was speaking out on the other