Legislation (2024)

Legislation (2024)

Click a heading below to learn more about the bill.

Firearms on Public Property (SB 1310) – SUPPORT

Link to bill: https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2024/legislation/S1310/

Summary of Legislation

The legislation is being proposed by Sen. Scott Herndon (Republican-Sandpoint).

According to the legislation’s Statement of Purpose, the bill will,

“This legislation concerns the right to carry a firearm on certain public property in the state of Idaho when that
property is being leased, rented or provided by contract to a group that is holding an event. The legislation
clarifies that for events on certain public property, when the event is open to the public with free, unrestricted
access, the citizens of Idaho continue to possess the right to carry their firearms on that property under the
provisions of section 18-3302, Idaho Code, as long as there are no other provisions of law to the contrary.”

This legislation is being proposed as a result of a recent Idaho Supreme Court case, where the Justices determined that if public property, such as a park, were used by a private property, the private party could then ban guns on the public property.

Essentially, the ISC said that the public property was private property.

While the ISAA knows we need a complete overhaul of the firearm preemption law, and maybe even some of the property laws, this measure is needed to prevent places like farmer’s markets from banning firearms to places that are clearly open to the walking public.

More is needed in this area, but this is a great start to beginning to restore what the ISC messed up.

Status: The bill is awaiting a full public hearing in the Senate State Affairs Committee.

Cell Phone Manufacturers and Impact on Firearm Manufacturers (SB 1253) – OPPOSE

Link to bill: https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2024/legislation/S1253/

Summary of Legislation

The legislation is being proposed by Sen. Kevin Cook (Republican-Idaho Falls).

According to the legislations Statement of Purpose, the bill will,

“The proposed legislation seeks to fulfill the Government’s compelling interest in protecting children from
exposure to harmful material online, and from being groomed by the use of the material into sexual
exploitation, abuse, and sex trafficking, while not overburdening Free Speech. This is accomplished by
requiring manufacturers of smartphones and tablets to enable existing filters for Idaho’s children. The filters
are already there but defaulted to “off.” This legislation simply asks manufacturers to turn them only for
children. This legislation recognizes the serious harm that comes to children from online pornography
exposure and leverages existing technology to empower all Idaho parents to remove this detrimental content
from their child’s devices. This bill follows the filtering roadmap approved by the Supreme Court in Ashcroft
v. ACLU, 542 U.S. 656, 670 (2004). Without this legislation it is not possible for all Idaho parents to
effectively protect their children from the massive amounts of harmful material inundating them online due
to complexity and lack of education. By placing internet filtering requirements at the device level during
activation, we automate and simplify an unnecessarily complicated process as the devices move in and out of
different Internet networks.”

The Idaho Second Amendment Alliance opposes this bill because of one measure in the legislation which allows for the state to sue the cell phone manufacturers.

Suing the manufacturers of products is a new method of lawfare being implemented across the country, and firearm manufacturers have been caught up in the attacks. This legislation is laying the groundwork for firearm manufacturers to be sued here in Idaho.

The bill is also opposed by Boise Black Rifle Company!

Status: The cleared the Idaho Senate and is currently in the House State Affairs Committee.

Stand-Your-Ground Expansion (Draft Mode) – SUPPORT

Link to bill: The legislation has not had a “Print Hearing,” so a link to the bill is not yet available.

Summary of Legislation

The legislation is being proposed by Sen. Brian Lenney (Republican-Nampa).

The goal of the bill is to give Idahoans the final pillar of Stand-Your-Ground law known as “Criminal Immunity.”

The legislation will help protect Idahoans from Kyle Rittenhouse-style prosecutions. Political prosecutions are becoming all too common in the U.S. these days.

Lenney’s Stand-Your-Ground bill will do several key things:

  1. Allow someone who has been arrested in Idaho, and believes they acted in self-defense, to invoke a pre-trial hearing within 14 days of arrest, to force the government to show evidence that a crime has been committed.
  2. If an Idahoan is prosecuted, but a jury of their peers finds them Not Guilty by reason of self-defense, a judge can award attorney’s fees to the Idahoan, to be paid for by the county they were prosecuted in.

Here is the current list of co-sponsors:

Sen. Scott Herndon (R-Dist.1)
Sen. Phil Hart (R-Dist. 2)
Sen Ben Toews (R-Dist. 4)
Sen. Tammy Nichols (R-Dist. 10)
Sen. Brian Lenney (R-Dist. 13) – Sponsor
Sen. Glenneda Zuiderveld (R-Dist. 24)

Rep. Heather Scott (R-Dist. 2A)
Rep. Tony Wisniewski (R-Dist. 5B)
Rep. Josh Tanner (R-Dist. 14B)
Rep. James Holtzclaw (R-Dist. 20B)
Rep. Tina Lambert (R-Dist. 23B)
Rep. Julianne Young (R-Dist. 30B)

Status: The bill is awaiting a Print Hearing, at which time it will receive a bill number.

Campus Carry Reform (SB 1228) – SUPPORT

Link to bill: https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sessioninfo/2024/legislation/S1228.pdf

Summary of Legislation

The legislation is being proposed by Sen. Dan Foreman (Republican-Viola).

According to the bill’s “Statement of Purpose,” the legislation will:

“This legislation repeals section 18-3309, Idaho Code, and replaces it with a new section 18-3309, Idaho Code,
that prohibits limitations regarding concealed weapons at public colleges and universities.”

The legislation fixes an issue the ISAA has long had with the Campus Carry law, which is that these public anti-2nd Amendment institutions should not be able to limit the ability of students to defend themselves.

Status: The bill has had an introductory hearing in the Senate State Affairs Committee but has not yet received a full public hearing.

Gadsden Flag License Plate – Firearm Training (SB 1317) – SUPPORT

Link to bill: https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2024/legislation/S1317/

Summary of Legislation

The legislation is being proposed by Sen. Tammy Nichols (Republican-Middleton).

According to the bill’s Statement of Purpose, it will do the following:

“This legislation amends section 49-402 and 49-402D of Idaho Code to provide for the State Board of Education to be a permissible beneficiary of the Gadston “Don’t Tread On Me” license plate. This legislation further amends section 33-1628 of Idaho Code to establish a firearm safety grant fund and program for the purposes of firearms safety education currently found in section 33-1628 of Idaho Code.”

Status: The bill has cleared the Idaho Senate by a vote of 18 to 15 and is now before the House Transportation Committee.

Removing Anti-Militia Law (SB 1240) – SUPPORT

Link to bill: https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sessioninfo/2024/legislation/S1240.pdf

Summary of Legislation

The legislation is being proposed by Sen. Dan Foreman (Republican-Viola).

According to the bill’s Statement of Purpose, the legislation will:

“The legislation amends Section 46-802, Idaho Code, that prohibits members of organizations other than the
National Guard, unorganized militia, or selected other groups from associating and parading in public with
firearms. The legislation supports the First and Second Amendment Rights afforded to Idahoans under the U.S.
Constitution.”

The legislation removes an antiquated area of law that isn’t needed, and more importantly, is unconstitutional.

Gun grabbers tried to use the law in 2020 to target gun owners who stood in public places in protest of BLM rioting in their towns. Gun grabbers may try to use it against the ISAA at some point in the future for one of our public rallies, where we often march from a park to the capitol.

Status: The bill has had an introductory hearing in the Senate State Affairs Committee but has not yet received a full public hearing.

Concealed Carry on School Property (HB 415) – SUPPORT

Link to bill: https://legislature.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sessioninfo/2024/legislation/H0415.pdf

Summary of Legislation

The bill is being proposed by Rep. Ted Hill (Republican – Eagle.)

According to the legislation’s Statement of Purpose, the bill will:

“There is a desperate need to make our schools secure from individuals that desire to inflict harm on students.
The best solution to defend schools is an effective physical security posture and to hire full-time armed guards.
The armed guard option is cost prohibitive and not sustainable. This legislation provides an alternative to the
hired armed guards by giving the opportunity for Public K-12 school employees to carry concealed weapons and
can act as an armed protection force within the confines of the school. Individuals that are willing to participate
in this program will need to have completed an enhanced concealed weapon training course. Additionally, this
legislation requires all schools to remove “Gun Free Zone” signs from all public K-12 schools.”

The legislation is not quite as strong as the ISAA would like to see, but is better than the status quo we currently have.

One concern we had is that it does not give teachers the option to keep a firearm in a secure safe, perhaps locked in a fingerprint safe. While this isn’t a method we recommend for quick reaction time, it could be a method preferred by the individual employee, especially teachers.

Our goal is for Constitutional Carry for the same employees, who already carry their firearm every day, in all locations.

Bill Status: The bill cleared the full Idaho House on a vote of 53 to 16, with 1 absent. 5 Republicans voted against the bill. The vote took place on January 31st, 2024, and the bill now heads to the Senate State Affairs Committee.

New “School Carry” Bill (SB 1418) – OPPOSE

Link to bill: https://legislature.idaho.gov/sessioninfo/2024/legislation/S1418/

Summary of Legislation

The bill is being proposed by Sen. Jim Guthrie (R-Inkom) and Rep. Ted Hill (R-Eagle).

This is supposed to be replacement for HB 415, which the ISAA supports and is demanding a public hearing for.

Sadly, this bill is so incredibly bad, that we have to oppose it. Here are some of the reasons the bill is not good:

  1. The bill maintains the status quo that the school board must approve of someone carrying a firearm for self-defense. This is what the current law already has, so what’s the point of this bill?
  2. The bill codifies “Gun Free Zone” signs into law. Why is that even a proposal in Idaho. Gun Free Zone signs should be banned in Idaho.
  3. The bill forces yearly re-training. While the ISAA maintains that gun owners should always do as much training as possible, forced training by the government is not okay.
  4. The training requirements require other mandatory training as required by the school board. Again, the more training that is required, the less people will carry for self-defense.
  5. The program won’t even be implemented until July 1, 2026. So, we are going to wait for over two years to implement the plan?
  6. The bill allows the school board to determine what weapon and ammo the individual can carry. It is not the business of the school board to know what type of weapon someone is carrying or what ammo they choose to use.

Our goal is for Constitutional Carry for the same employees, who already carry their firearm every day, in all locations.

Bill Status: The bill is awaiting a public hearing in the Idaho Senate State Affairs Committee.

We’re fighting to protect the 2nd Amendment in 2024 – will you join us in the fight?