Gun and ammunition sales have spiked in the last year, and more attention is being placed on massacre type shootings, such as the recent events at Fort Hood in Texas.

Yet here in Montana, guns have been and still are a way of life, and many believe that restricting one's ability to own, carry, and use a firearm will continue to cause more harm than good.

Bill Garcia, the Smith and Wesson District Manager, says, "It's the cowboy lifestyle. We're a little different here in Montana, we don't like to be told what to do...and I think gun rights are one of those things."

For some, it's that simple...gun ownership is a right. But for others, guns don't belong in the hands of the public...and for those people, more rights mean more guns.

Kenneth J. Bray, with the ATF, says, "We do enforce the law as Congress has passed, and it's like any other law out there, there's no 100% agreement on the gun control act."

Kevin Lake, with Electric City Shooters Supply, says, "My opinion? They're afraid of firearms. If it scares them, I'm sorry, it scares me that someone can walk into Fort Hood and kill 13 people and wound how many others?"

Whether in schools, federal buildings, or military bases, shooting massacres tend to happen in places where concealed weapons are banned to the public.

Lake adds, "Your average citizen cannot carry a firearm, defend themselves...it's basically sheep waiting for the slaughter."

That's exactly why some gun enthusiasts say after passing a firearms background check, even a NewsChannel 5 reporter can and should learn to shoot a gun.

Garcia says, "Advocate of everyone having a gun? That is me. I'm also an advocate of using the laws we have on the books. If you're a criminal, you have a gun...put them away."

Montana requires a federal background check on anyone planning to purchase a firearm. Those background checks deny around 1-thousand montanans from purchasing guns each year, so naturally some think that more laws will catch more of the bad guys...but the law doesn't matter to a criminal.

David Miller, who is a felon, told us last year, "For someone like me, it's actually even easier to just buy a gun illegally and cheaper and it's way easier to do."

Senator Jon Tester and Attorney General Steve Bullock are working with the U.S. Supreme Court to further secure Second Amendment gun ownership rights.

Bullock and his colleagues have filed a friend of the court brief on behalf of an inner-city community activist in Chicago, Illinois who is prohibited by a Chicago ordinance from possessing a handgun. The activist, Otis McDonald, has been threatened by violent drug dealers because of his efforts to clean up his neighborhood.

The Attorneys General argue that local municipalities cannot disregard the Second Amendment and impose a total ban on handguns, just as they can't void the right to free speech.

"No matter where you live, the rights guaranteed in our Constitution apply to all Americans and local governments can't pick and choose which ones they'll recognize," Bullock said. "As the Supreme Court has ruled before, the right to bear arms is fundamental and I'm pleased to stand with so many of my colleagues against this attempt to skirt our Constitution."

In the landmark case District of Columbia vs. Heller, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that the right to bear arms is a critical liberty interest, essential to preserving individual security and the right to self-defense. Since that decision, lower courts have been divided over whether that guaranteed right applies to people living in all fifty states or just in "federal enclaves" like Washington, D.C., the attorneys general write.

While Chicago has argued that the Supreme Court's decision in Heller doesn't apply to state and local municipalities, the states' brief argues that, "Just as local governments cannot constitutionally act as ‘laboratories’ for initiatives to abrogate their citizens’ right to free speech or their freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures, nor can they nullify the fundamental right to keep and bear arms secured by the Second Amendment."

Bullock and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott – who authored the brief – were joined by their colleagues in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.