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Revised bill no longer includes regulations of university campuses, issue likely to reappear
Idaho Senate Bill 1381, which would allow students with concealed weapons licenses to carry on campus has gone back to revision. An open forum was held on Wednesday for the public to voice their opinion on the bill.
According to senior Jimmy Fox, a lobbyist for ASUI in Boise, the revised bill will not contain any language regarding carrying concealed weapons on a university campus. Another bill addressing the issue will most likely appear sometime later this session, he said.
ASUI hosted an open forum Wednesday to discuss students carrying concealed weapons on campus. A panel, which consisted of two students and law professor James MacDonald, was there to answer questions.
The students were junior Garrett Holbrook, who was against the passage of the bill, and senior Aled Baker, who helped to draft an original version of the bill, before it went to revision.
“We believe this is a reasonable restriction. We are not against the Second Amendment, we just believe that there is no place on the university for a concealed weapon,” said Holbrook, a former ASUI senator.
“If you allow the people who follow the law to defend themselves, we’ll have a much safer campus,” Baker said.
“How could it be a good idea to mix alcohol, young kids and firearms?” MacDonald asked.
After a two-minute speech from each panel member, the floor opened for audience members to participate by asking questions either directed at the entire panel or one member of it.
Questions came from a variety of people, including a concerned resident assistant and foreign exchange students.
“I know that diversity is a topic of agenda for the university, how does this look to other countries?” said Natalie Evans, an exchange student from England. “If I even know that someone has a concealed weapon, I want to run away.”
About half of the people in attendance were in support of the bill, and half were opposed to it.
“This bill provides the people who have a regard for the law a way to defend themselves,” Baker said. “It protects the Constitutionally guaranteed right to protect the gift of life.”
ASUI’s official stance on the bill, as given to Fox in Boise, reads: “Citizens have the right to keep and bear arms, but just as some actions and forms of speech are not universally acceptable, neither should loaded firearms be permitted in all places. Allowing loaded weapons on campus increases the risk of both accidental discharge and use in the heat of anger, and more than adequate alternatives exist for those University of Idaho students who wish to keep their firearms in Moscow.”
ASUI President Jon Gaffney thinks that the law as it stands now is a completely reasonable restriction.
“My primary concern was actual student safety and the climate of safety on campus, so I had to look at not only what would be the safest option for students on campus, but how it would effect the climate of safety on campus, because the two are intertwined,” Gaffney said.
According to the Latah County Sheriff’s Office, in order to receive a concealed weapons license in Latah County, one must come to the office and fill out a two-part application, as well as a fingerprint card. The application is checked for eligibility in Boise, with mental health records consulted.
One must also pay a fee of $56 and have proof of firearms training. This can come from military papers, training from the Department of Fish and Game, such as a hunter’s education course, or from the private sector.
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