Campus gun plan raises troubling questions

This week, Rep. Eric Anderson, R-Priest Lake, announced that he will not seek another term in the Idaho House of Representatives.

I’ve enjoyed my service with Rep. Anderson as we have worked together on many issues that are important to our communities. After leaving office, Rep. Anderson will continue his efforts to combat invasive species, one of the hallmarks of his service in the Idaho Legislature. Rep. Anderson is a leader in the fight to keep our waterways from infestation of mussels. We can all be grateful for Eric’s tireless work for the people of Idaho.

You may have heard about the Legislature’s debate over whether or not concealed weapons should be allowed on campus of Idaho’s public colleges and universities. This is an issue that I have studied very carefully.

As a gun owner, I supported the bill that the same sponsors brought to the Legislature in 2008. That bill gave the colleges and universities the responsibility of governing concealed weapons on campus. I voted yes as did the sponsors and an overwhelming majority of legislators.

As a Republican, I believe in local control. I listened to law enforcement in my district, which was split about evenly. At the end of the day, I believe it was an unnecessary bill that creates a patchwork of gun zones on college campuses that I believe will potentially make it harder for law enforcement, for students and staff, and for the public to know where you can carry and where you can’t carry.

It is in effect spot zoning — if you have a concealed weapons permit you can carry in auditoriums that seat less than 1,000. If you have an enhanced concealed weapons permit, you can’t carry in auditoriums seating less than 1,000 people but you can in halls that seat more than 1,000. This is just one example of several similar passages in the bill that create different areas on campus for carrying by regular concealed weapons permit holders versus enhanced concealed weapons holders. Again, it is a real mishmash and lacks clarity.

I also find it troubling that the same people who brought this policy to us in 2008 — specifically allowing college and university presidents the authority to set firearm policies on our campuses — now are clothing themselves in the Second Amendment to take it away. How can it be OK in 2008 to give that local control and in 2014 say we need to change it?

Though I strongly support our Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms, I believe that this legislation is not well thought out.

We have begun setting budgets now in the Joint Finance and Appropriations Committee and are on target to finish doing so on March 7. The leadership goal of completing the legislative session by March 21 appears to be a realistic one.

There are many other issues of interest and concern in front of the Legislature now as bill introduction deadlines have passed and except in rare circumstances most of the legislation that will be considered this session is on the table.

Thank you for staying in touch with me over the last several weeks. And thank you to the newspaper for running this column.

As always, I look forward to hearing from you about your perspectives and opinions on the bills before us. Stay in touch. My email is skeough@senate.idaho.gov and the toll free number for our message center is 1-800-626-0471. Thank you.