Idaho: New School Carry Bill S 1418 = GUN CONTROL

On Friday, Senate State Affairs Chairman Guthrie introduced his own version of H 415 - Senate Bill 1418, which goes above and beyond what current law allows for school employees to carry firearms, and hands over draconian gun control authority to elected school board officials that have no expertise in firearms or the right to keep and bear arms.

S 1418 is not a school safety bill, it is gun control. It sets up a dangerous precedent for the state of Idaho and a slippery slope to erode legislative preemption of firearms laws. S 1418 undermines preemption, stand your ground, defensive display and an individual’s right to keep and bear arms.

94% of mass shootings occur in gun free zones. In Idaho there are only four statutorily approved “gun-free” zones – jails/detention facilities, courthouses, airports, and K-12 schools. Only one of those places is unsecured… K-12 schools. Idaho’s children deserve protection at every campus, but many are soft targets because their school boards refuse to act.

S 1418 goes too far, and arms school boards with unfettered subjective discretion to establish unobtainable requirements for a school employee to carry because of their personal bias. S 1418 allows politically elected school boards to determine, outside of existing law:

• The “personal qualifications” of a teacher who is already legally authorized by a sheriff to carry a concealed firearm
• The type of firearm and ammunition a school employee may carry
• The appropriate use of force, and 
• The mandatory training requirements that local schools can increase if they choose

In Idaho, enhanced concealed weapons license holders are among, if not the most, law-abiding citizens in our state. Committing a crime that would deny you this license, revokes this license. 

Your NRA has been working hard all session supporting House Bill 415 to allow teachers and other school employees with an enhanced concealed carry license to exercise their right self-defense at a K-12 school that is the place of their employment. H 415 overwhelmingly passed the House State Affairs Committee by 11-2, and on the House Floor by 53-16 (1 excused).

H 415 allows teachers and school employees to protect themselves, and potentially their classroom at all times, not just in a mass shooting event. Why does a teacher’s ability to defend their life end when they leave their car in the school parking lot and enter onto school grounds, or their classroom? We trust their ability to defend themselves just about everywhere else in Idaho, including playgrounds, grocery stores, and the State Capitol.

H 415 is still in the Senate State Affairs committing waiting for Chairman Guthrie to give it a hearing. It is time for Idaho lawmakers to again recognize the right to self-defense does not end at the arbitrary boundary of a school. Criminals don’t obey these arbitrary “gun-free” zone boundaries or the signs, and the time has come to protect all our teachers, all our schools and all our children in Idaho. SUPPORT H 415 and oppose S 1418.  

The NRA strongly opposes S 1418. Please urge Chairman Guthrie for a hearing on H 415 and urge the Senate State Affairs Committee to SUPPORT H 415 and reject S 1418.