Vote in the works for school pro-gun bill

BOISE — A bill that would require Idaho schools to allow employees and volunteers to carry guns if they have an enhanced concealed weapons license is heading to the full Idaho House for a vote.

The House State Affairs Committee voted along party lines Wednesday to send HB 415 to the floor. Testimony was overwhelmingly in opposition to the bill.

The bill would also release the employees from liability in the event of a shooting for either deciding to engage or deciding not to, and it would implement a fine for any district displaying a “gun-free zone” sign.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Ted Hill, R-Eagle, said the bill is intended to allow teachers and other staff to step in if there’s a school shooting, as they can respond more quickly while waiting for law enforcement to arrive.

“Everybody that’s a school employee can be part of this team,” Hill said. “These select school employees will provide an armed force to defend children in those first minutes of attack.”

The bill was supported by the National Rifle Association, and the organization’s state director, Aoibheann Cline, answered a number of committee members’ questions about the proposed legislation; she later testified in favor of it.

The legislation would authorize any employee, volunteer or contracted employee to notify certain school administrators that they intend to conceal-carry a gun if they have an enhanced license. To obtain an enhanced license, Idahoans must take an eight-hour course that includes instruction on state laws related to firearms, “basic concepts” of responsible use of handguns, self-defense principles and live fire training with at least 98 rounds, according to Idaho code.

Nearly 100 people signed up to testify against the bill, the committee sign-in sheet shows. Five people signed up in favor of the bill.

Dozens of representatives from Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense attended the meeting and some spoke in opposition to the bill, arguing that providing guns to employees with limited training may further endanger children rather than protect them.

Dianna David said she and her husband are gun owners and a law enforcement and military family, as well as gun violence survivors. She said this legislation may allow guns into the hands of the wrong people and also said the eight hours of training required for an enhanced license were inadequate.

“Words matter, common sense matters, particularly when attached to a weapon that can take a life in a nanosecond,” David said.

The Idaho School Boards Association, the Idaho Association of School Administrators and the Idaho teachers’ union also spoke in opposition.

Paul Stark, executive director of the Idaho Education Association, said the association is opposed to the bill because there are no option included that would allow school administrators to revoke or deny someone permission to conceal-carry. The bill only requires that the employee notify a principal and superintendent and show a copy of their enhanced license, but no authorization from the district, school board or principal needs to be given.

“There has been some testimony this session about not trusting librarians with books, but this trusts librarians with a Glock,” Stark said, referencing legislation that would limit access to materials deemed harmful to minors in libraries.

School districts in Idaho have the option to adopt policies to allow employees to be armed. The Mountain View District in Grangeville adopted a policy in 2017 in which staff members may volunteer to be “security officers”; these employees must also receive an enhanced concealed weapons permit and separate training from local law enforcement as well as mental evaluations, KREM 2 reported.

Tara Adams, who survived the Las Vegas mass shooting in 2017, argued that adding more guns to an active shooter situation could make it worse.

“How would first responders know which gun holder was the original perpetrator, and which ones were the defenders in the midst of terrifying chaos?” Adams asked. “How would the defenders and first responders know who to shoot if multiple firearms had been drawn? This could easily veer into a confusing shootout.”

Robert Gillis of Tough on Crime testified in support of the legislation. He said he was a retired law enforcement officer who responded to a school shooting in California. Gillis showed large printouts of photos of dead and injured children that he said he had to pass by when he responded.

“School boards are not protecting kids. Words are not protecting kids,” Gillis said. “... We have to do something drastic to protect our kids, because nothing has been done so far.”

In the incident Gillis mentioned, the 2019 Saugus High School shooting, law enforcement arrived within two minutes, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office. The gunman killed two teenagers and wounded three others, ABC7 reported.

Rep. John Gannon, D-Boise, made a motion to hold the bill in committee until Monday to give more time for people to testify and read the bill that was introduced Monday. Chairman Brent Crane, R-Nampa, said that 48 hours was a typical turnaround time between introduction and a public hearing. Gannon’s motion failed on a party-line vote.

Hill told committee members that the concerns and fears shared during testimony were “unfounded.”

“Focus on the objective, focus on what we’re trying to do,” Hill said. “We don’t have to have a stack of 20 kids dead in a classroom because we didn’t do anything.”

Gannon asked Hill during the hearing if he thought the decision to arm teachers should be left to the local school districts, or if an option should be added to allow school boards to deny employees who seek to carry.

Reps. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, and Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot, responded that they received many emails during the meeting in favor of the legislation.

Hill responded that there would be school districts that don’t want to implement it, but he wanted it to be a statewide option for employees.

“Some people will get nervous about this, but they don’t understand the violence,” Hill said. “If you understand the pattern of violence, you have to answer violence with violence.”

HB 415 was sent to the House on an 11-2 vote.

Guido covers Idaho politics for the Lewiston Tribune, Moscow-Pullman Daily News and Idaho Press of Nampa. She may be contacted at lguido@idahopress.com and can be found on Twitter @EyeOnBoiseGuido.