Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama face a tough sell with pro-gun Westerners as the presidential campaign heads to Montana, home of the nation’s last primary and one of the highest concentrations of gun owners in the country.

In the rural West, suspicions linger about both presidential hopefuls’ past support of gun control. And recent comments by Obama about how people in downtrodden areas “cling to guns or religion” have raised concerns the Illinois senator doesn’t grasp the importance of the gun issue in this part of the West, where fiercely independent voters often take a dim view of federal regulation.

Obama has said he chose the wrong words to characterize the economic insecurity many people face, while Clinton’s campaign has been highlighting the comments by circulating endorsements and letters from supporters who say Obama’s “views are offensive to rural Montanans.”

The gun issue is an important one in Montana, where one in five over the age of 16 hunts — the highest rate in the nation. And gun groups estimate that as many as 85 percent of households in the state have guns, although no exact statistics are available because Montanans fiercely eschew any notion of gun registration.

Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, never shy about his fondness for guns, captured the sentiment of many in the rural West when asked by a reporter which guns he owns.

“None of your damn business,” the Democrat said. “That’s the first step in the government coming to get my guns, is telling you what I got.”

State Sen. Larry Jent knows firsthand the problems antigun Democrats can cause for the local party. When he was knocking on doors during his own legislative campaign in the 1990s, Jent was repeatedly asked about Bill Clinton and the national Democrat’s gun

control policy.

He supports Obama now, although he believes Obama will need to diffuse the issue come November if he is the nominee. Jent, an avid hunter and West Point graduate, said he would like to see the gun issue removed entirely from the party’s platform.

“People vote on the gut issues, and guns are a gut issue,” Jent said. “Democrats lose in the West because of gut issues like guns. And they win when they reassure people that they are OK on that issue.”

During recent trips to Montana in advance of the state’s June 3 primary, Clinton and Obama affirmed their support of the Second Amendment.

In addition, Obama’s campaign said he supports “thoughtful gun control measures.”

“He believes closing the loopholes that allow for illegal guns to fall into criminal hands will decrease gun violence,” campaign spokesman Matthew Chandler said. “Montana residents who submit to background checks and obtain firearms legally will see no changes in their traditional lifestyles.”

For her part, Clinton thinks “reasonable steps” can be taken to counter gun violence, but says general gun rules should be left to the states, according to spokesman Matt McKenna.

“The people of Montana may have a very different view of guns than the people of New York,” McKenna said. “Communities should determine their own commonsense, reasonable rules.”

Jim Hunt, a Democrat running for Congress in Montana, said it’s caveats like “thoughtful gun control” that give him and others pause. Hunt said he has close to 100 guns — and there is no way he would want to register any of them with the government.

“I don’t want anyone to take away my guns or infringe on my right to own guns because I hunt, and I want to protect my family,” Hunt said.

The Associated Press recently asked both campaigns about the candidates’ personal experiences with guns. Neither owns a gun, but each has fired one. Obama’s campaign said he had fired a gun in college when he went target shooting in the woods. Clinton’s campaign said she fired a gun at a range in the late 1990s and had been duck hunting.

On the gun issue, there may be some good news for Democrats since Republican John McCain is perceived by some as being soft on the issue. Schweitzer said the Democratic presidential nominee will be hurt less than in the past because McCain only gets a “C” grade from the National Rifle Association (without mentioning the “F” earned by both Obama and Clinton). Leading Montana Democrats, at worst, score a “B” with the group.

“These politicians from the East and West Coast view guns differently than we do in the heartland,” Schweitzer said. “People that own guns don’t want to vote for someone who they think would take their guns away.”

State legislator Bob Bergren, involved in candidate recruitment for state Democrats, said he doesn’t think the issue will swing votes this election. He believes bread-and-butter issues will prevail, but believes the presidential candidates could score points by simply promising to leave gun laws alone.

“I think that if Montanans heard that the status quo would be protected, they would be comfortable,” Bergren said. “As a sportsman and a gun owner myself, if I knew there would be no attempt to change the laws, I would be comfortable with that.”

Gary Marbut, president of the Montana Shooting Sports Association, said gun control measures during the Clinton administration including restrictions on magazine capacity still sting. He called the efforts “foolish and unproductive.”

But Obama and Clinton don’t have to worry much about voters like Marbut — die-hards that could never be convinced the national Democrats won’t tinker with gun rules. In fact, Marbut says he probably won’t vote for McCain either because of past transgressions against the gun community.

“I will probably have to write-in Ron Paul,” Marbut said.