[Vision2020] Today's Spokesman Review: "Gun laws make Idaho a haven for firearms supporters"

[Ted Moffett]

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/apr/15/gun-laws-make-idaho-a-haven-for-firearms/Gun
laws make Idaho a haven for firearms supportersApril 15,
2013<http://www.spokesman.com/2013/apr/15/>in
Idaho <http://www.spokesman.com/idaho/>*Betsy Z.
Russell<http://www.spokesman.com/staff/betsy-russell/>
*The Spokesman-Review

BOISE – As the nation remains locked in debate over expanding background
checks and other measures aimed at stemming gun violence, Idaho lawmakers
this year pushed to expand the state’s already-friendly posture on
gun rights.

“There’s little doubt that Idahoans are very supportive of the Second
Amendment,” said House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Twin Falls. “I think we made
significant progress on that front.”

Although nine bills were debated, including unsuccessful proposals to arm
school principals and arrest state and local law enforcement officers who
enforce any new federal restrictions on gun rights, just four modest tweaks
to existing laws won approval. The most notable among them was creation of
an optional enhanced concealed weapons permit that would require additional
training but would be accepted in more states.

Idaho’s existing gun laws are already among the least restrictive in the
nation. The NRA calls Idaho a “gun-friendly” state, and the Brady Campaign
to Prevent Gun Violence rates it as tied for next to last among states in
its gun control laws, scoring only 2 out of 100.
“Since I’ve been in the Legislature, every year we work on gun laws,
tightening up our gun laws and making sure we’re protecting people’s rights
to own,” said state Sen. Marv Hagedorn, R-Meridian, a retired Navy officer
and frequent sponsor of gun rights legislation who is in his seventh year
in the Legislature. “It’s getting hard for us – there’s no easy
fixes anymore.”

That hasn’t stopped Idaho lawmakers from trying. House members were so
incensed this year about the Senate’s refusal to consider its plan to
outlaw state and local enforcement of any new federal gun restrictions that
when Hagedorn’s school safety bill – requiring school districts to develop
school security plans, which could include arming teachers or others on
school campuses – arrived in the House, they stripped out the entire
contents of the bill and replaced it with their House-passed measures as a
protest. Then, the amended bill died.

Rep. Ron Mendive, R-Coeur d’Alene, said one of his biggest disappointments
in this year’s legislative session was not having “pro-Second Amendment
legislation pass both houses.” Mendive was a co-sponsor of House Bill 219,
the proposal that would have made it a misdemeanor crime for Idaho police
officers to enforce new federal gun restrictions.

Asked if he sees gaps in Idaho’s current laws to protect Second Amendment
rights, Mendive said, “I guess we can’t overprotect the Second Amendment.
It’s there for a reason, and we need to make sure that we preserve it.”

The Idaho Constitution says, “No law shall impose licensure, registration
or special taxation on the ownership or possession of firearms or
ammunition. Nor shall any law permit the confiscation of firearms, except
those actually used in the commission of a felony.”

Idaho permits the open carrying of firearms, even in the state Capitol; it
has a state law pre-empting any local regulation of guns; machine guns are
legal; and there are no state limits or restrictions on gun purchases,
other than requiring written consent of parents or guardians for sales to
those under age 18. Existing shooting ranges are protected against nuisance
lawsuits, and Idaho has a “firearms freedom law” declaring that Idaho-made
guns and ammunition are exempt from federal regulation as long as they
remain within the state.

Gun rights are part of the culture in Idaho, which is known nationally and
internationally for its hunting. Each year, more than 10,000 people sign up
for hunter education courses through the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

“I think it’s because we’re not that far removed from the frontier, where
guns were necessary for survival, and now largely used for recreation,”
longtime Idaho political observer Jim Weatherby said. “We became a
territory only 150 years ago. And that’s just two lifetimes ago.”

He noted that gun rights are practically an article of faith for Idaho
politicians from either party. “As far as I know, no successful candidate
for statewide office has ever proposed gun control, not even liberal
politicians like Frank Church,” he said. “It’s just part of our political
culture – widely accepted, rarely seen as a negative – that people had guns
in their household.”

Hagedorn said, “Frankly, we’ve got really good gun laws in Idaho, starting
from our constitution on down, and when people ask us to make it better,
it’s hard to find ways.”

Stephanie Samford, an NRA spokeswoman, said, “Idaho has gun laws that
respect the Second Amendment. … Idaho has very gun-friendly laws.”

The other three gun bills that passed the Idaho Legislature this year were:

• House Bill 258, to give Idahoans who apply for a concealed weapons permit
a free copy of their background check if they want it. It passed both
houses unanimously.

• House Bill 223, a bill to clarify that concealed weapons permits aren’t
required for certain weapons – knives with blades up to 4 inches, Tasers
and pepper spray. Rep. Pete Nielsen, R-Mountain Home, proposed the bill
after his son was cited for having a knife concealed under the seat of his
car. It also passed both houses unanimously.

• House Bill 183, to repeal a no-longer-used law that let cities regulate
concealed weapons. That law hasn’t applied since Idaho passed its state
pre-emption law for regulation of guns in 2008. The bill drew two “no”
votes in the House and passed unanimously in the Senate.

Gov. Butch Otter and legislative leaders have pledged to work over the
summer on further gun-rights legislation.

Asked if there are holes in the state’s remaining gun-rights laws, Bedke
said, “I don’t know that there are holes, but I think there are concerns in
the body politic that there might be.”
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