[Vision2020] Concealed weapons bill shot down

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (March 17, 2015) Lewiston Tribune.

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Concealed weapons bill shot down
Legislation to nix need for permit in rural Idaho draws fire from almost everyone; panel tables bill



BOISE - Legislation that allows concealed weapons to be carried without a permit almost anywhere in Idaho drew opposition from an unlikely combination of gun rights and gun safety groups Monday.
The measure indicates concealed weapons permits would only be required within city limits. In rural areas - or about 99 percent of the state's land mass - they would no longer be required.
The bill also eliminates an existing exemption for public officials, meaning they would have to get a permit to carry concealed weapons inside the city limits.
No one except the bill sponsors spoke in favor of the measure during a House State Affairs Committee hearing Monday. Second Amendment supporters opposed the measure because it didn't go far enough, while domestic violence and gun safety groups opposed it because it went too far.
"This bill takes a Wild West approach to gun regulation. It eliminates the permit requirement throughout virtually the entire state, allowing criminals and domestic abusers to carry concealed weapons," said Cristina McNeil, a member of the Idaho chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America.
Idaho law requires a concealed carry permit inside or outside of city limits, except in cases where someone is "engaged in lawful hunting, fishing, trapping or other lawful outdoor activity." (Permits also aren't required in a person's own home or business or on their own property; that would not change under the proposed bill.)
"Common sense says people who carry concealed weapons in public should have a clean criminal record and basic firearms training," said Dolores Aragon, the Idaho lead for Moms Demand Action. "This bill would eliminate these requirements."
Greg Pruett with the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance had a different take on the legislation. He opposed it because it eliminated the public officials exemption.
The bill "says it's trying to clarify state code. That's fine," Pruett said. "The problem is, it strips rights away from any state, county or publicly elected official."
By his count, Pruett said, that could amount to as many as 30,000 people, including precinct committee men and women, school board members and fire or cemetery district commissioners.
"That moves us in the wrong direction," he said. "We're removing rights, which isn't the direction we need to go."
Pruett proposed an alternative measure earlier this session that would allow permitless or "constitutional carry" anywhere in the state. That bill hasn't received a hearing. State Affairs Chairman Tom Loertscher, R-Iona, said it was poorly written and would undo much of the progress Idaho has made with gun rights legislation in recent years.
Wayne Hoffman, president of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, said the concealed carry bill had a number of good provisions. However, he expressed concern about language that might require the state police to conduct a more expanded background check when someone applies for a permit.
"The new language seems to expand the requirement, to look at (mental) health issues as well as criminal history," Hoffman said. "That's a concern for us."
The bill was written with the help of Dakota Moore, a National Rifle Association lobbyist who pushed the controversial "guns on campus" bill through the Idaho Legislature last year. That bill allows some to carry concealed weapons on Idaho's college and university campuses.
"I never thought I'd see the day when the Second Amendment Alliance was in agreement with Moms Demand Action," Moore said at the close of Monday's hearing.
He said the bill tries to clarify existing statutes by adding a definition of "concealed weapon." It also eliminates confusion about when and where concealed weapons can be carried without a permit.
Right now, for example, different jurisdictions have differing interpretations of "engaged in lawful hunting or other lawful outdoor activity."
"What does 'lawful outdoor activity' mean?" Moore asked. "We need to clear up that ambiguity I'm as proud of this bill as any I've ever advocated. The citizens of Idaho deserve clear, succinct code."
Members of the State Affairs Committee clearly had some issues with the legislation. They decided to postpone action for now; they didn't kill the bill, but wanted time to consider it further. Loertscher said he would likely bring the measure back for a vote sometime next week.

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Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .

"Moscow Cares"
http://www.MoscowCares.com
  
Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

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