The Idaho legislature needs to take a hard look at what’s happening in Virginia, a full‑blown anti‑gun barrage, and apply the opposite tactic in one of the reddest states in the country.

Virginia, under its new Democratic leadership, is facing more than a dozen gun‑control bills. That’s in a single session, simply because Democrats now hold the trifecta: the Senate, the House, and the governorship.

We’ve always warned that if Democrats ever gained full control of Idaho, you’d see this exact same scenario unfold here. But that raises a serious question: why is it like pulling teeth in the Idaho legislature just to get ONE pro‑gun bill passed?

This has bothered me for years. We shouldn’t be scraping by with one or two pro‑gun measures annually. Idaho should be moving a dozen of them: removing infringements, restoring rights, and strengthening the Second Amendment in every way possible.

So what’s going on? Why can we barely get a single pro‑gun bill through in a year?

Back in 2014, the Idaho legislature saw seven firearm‑related bills introduced. Only one became law, and some legislators complained that even that was “too many.”

So in 2015, leadership, including then‑Speaker Scott Bedke (now Lt. Governor), formed a secret gun committee to vet firearm legislation. Behind closed doors, they alone decided which bills would move forward, if any.

Bedke, Rep. Judy Boyle (R‑Midvale), former Sen. Bart Davis (R‑Idaho Falls), Sen. Todd Lakey (R‑Nampa), and possibly a few others were involved. This wasn’t a formal committee, so you won’t find it in any official record. We only know because people inside the capitol told us what was happening.

Their alleged goal was to identify a bill that could pass both chambers and survive the governor’s desk.

But think about that. In a state with roughly 80% Republican control, where candidates brag nonstop about their pro‑2A credentials every election season, we’re supposed to believe they can only muster one pro‑gun bill? And that the rest must be stopped because lawmakers are too afraid of being exposed if they have to vote on multiple gun bills?

I’m not saying the committee members are anti‑gun. But it’s absolute insanity that a handful of lawmakers get to decide, in secret, what gun owners across the entire state are allowed to fight for. No open debate. No transparency. And you can bet personal grudges play a role in that “process.”

This is the difference between red states and blue states.

Democrats, when in power, push their agenda aggressively. Republicans, far too often, don’t seem to understand the fight we’re in. They placate the weakest members of their own party, or even the Democrats, and do very little for the people who elected them.

Hopefully, this year we’ll see a real shift: not just more pro‑gun bills introduced, but more of them actually signed into law.

Gun owners deserve nothing less.