Olivia Love
Staff Writer
After Gov. Butch Otter signed Senate Bill 1389 (S1389), residents of Idaho, age 21 and older, can carry a concealed weapon inside city limits without a permit as of July 1.
S1389, also known as permitless or constitutional carry, relaxes gun laws in the state of Idaho and passed during the 2016 legislative session. Prior to this bill, residents age 18 and older could carry concealed firearms outside of city limits and open carry was already legal within city limits.
With this new law in place, there is no longer a requirement for the completion of a gun safety course or a background check in order to buy and carry a gun in city limits. Because of this, S1389 has raised concern about public safety, especially in and around academic institutions.
School property is protected from this new law under the Federal Gun Free School Act. This act prohibits people from possessing a firearm of any kind within 1,000 feet of the edge of a school’s property without a permit.
If a person wanted to have a concealed weapon on school property, or even have a gun locked in their vehicle, they would need to have either an Idaho Regular permit or Idaho Enhanced permit. These are two types of concealed carry permits a person can obtain through a process of fingerprinting, gun safety courses, and a background check.
However, this act only protects schools defined as K-12 grade schools. ISU is a college campus that is within city limits, so how does the passing of Senate Bill 1389 affect campus life?
Regulation of guns on college campuses remains as it was before the new law passed: it is illegal to carry a gun on the campus of a university. However, it is legal to carry a concealed weapon if the carrier has an Idaho Enhanced carrying permit. This permit does require a person to have more experience handling a gun than the regular permit does.
Currently, ISU’s head of security has neither spoken to his staff nor reviewed the law himself. This means that no new protocols have been put into place to accommodate to the new law.
Given that the law does not go into effect until July 1, security at ISU has time to discuss and decide what should be done in order to protect the safety of the students.
As for current legalities on university campuses regarding guns, legislation passed in 2014 stating university regulations would be parallel to the laws of the state about gun possession. This passed because it was believed to be in the best interest of the safety of the public and to protect citizens’ second amendment rights.
Though schools and universities are protected from permitless carry of a concealed weapon, other properties and business are left susceptible to the use of the new law. Even though gun-handling experience is no longer a requirement for purchasing a gun, it is still strongly encouraged that anyone thinking about buying a gun takes gun safety classes in order to be familiar with a firearm and be able to use it safely.
Idaho now joins a handful of other states that allow concealed carry without a permit. Some of these states include Alaska, Wyoming, Vermont, Arizona, Kansas, Maine, and West Virginia.
WalletHub analyzed the importance of guns in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. They found that Idaho was, in fact, the state most dependent on the gun industry.
