Students ask state legislators questions

Leadership High School members discussed a variety of topics in a video conference with state legislators Monday at Hill County Electric's Hospitality Room west of Havre.

Local legislators Sen. Kris Hansen, R-Havre, Rep. Stephanie Hess, R-Havre, and Rep. G. Bruce Meyers, R-Box Elder, who are all currently in session in Helena, were present at the conference.

The main topics discussed were infrastructure and gun control on college campuses.

Jacob Bachmeier, a member of Leadership High School and junior at Havre High School, was the main student voice at the conference.

Bachmeier first addressed infrastructure.

"I was wondering what your views are on what we can do to improve infrastructure in Montana and what it will do for Montanas?" he asked.

Hansen said legislators in Helena are debating how much they can afford to do at one time and which infrastructure projects take the highest priority.

"If there's a bridge in Havre that fell over into the river, clearly that's probably going to be a fairly high priority project - versus maybe a bridge in Kalispell that was repaired 10 years ago but maybe needs a little tweaking here and there," she said.

Bachmeier then addressed gun control on college campuses.

"There's been a lot of recent (school) shootings, unfortunately - why would we want this to become law?" he asked.

Hansen explained her position on this topic.

"(For example,) if I declare the University of Montana campus a gun-free zone, and I am an angry or a mentally ill person who may go off and shoot people - is it safer to declare the college campus at Missoula a gun-free zone and attempt to keep people (from having) any weapons, or is it better to allow people the opportunity to defend themselves if that potentially mentally unstable person tries to shoot on campus?" she said.

After the conference, Bachmeier said he learned about the perspectives of the legislators.

"I've just always been kind of a political nerd," he said. "I've been following politics since I was 7 years old."