Crapo fields questions on gun control, public lands

SAGLE — Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, made a 30-minute appearance at Sagle Elementary School on Wednesday afternoon, fielding questions from his Bonner County constituents about everything ranging from the gun control debate to allocation of public lands to education.

Crapo stopped in Sagle as part of his plan to not only travel to all of Idaho’s unincorporated towns, but also all of the counties in the state. In his opening remarks, he praised the Constitution, which while he believes is “divinely inspired,” Crapo admits that the document did not foresee the “clash of ideas” within the current political climate. Crapo also lamented the amount of “character assassinations” in the United States’ political climate before fielding questions from the crowd.

“The political weapons of choice are not so much engaging in disagreement and discussion about ideas and policies, as much that the weapons of choice today are character assassination and personal attacks,” Crapo said. “And I think that’s unfortunate. I don’t think we see that so much in Idaho — the people of Idaho are great — I often say I’m blessed to be the representative of the greatest state and the most wonderful people in the world.”

Mass shootings in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, loomed over Crapo’s town hall. The first question he fielded was about gun violence.

“What we really need to focus on is the root causes of violence,” Crapo said. “I have felt, and still do, that the core issue is related to mental health. Others say that it’s racism or some kind of other type of hatred. And certainly we have hate crime legislation in the United States today. There are issues about people being moved into violent mental states. I believe that is one of the core places we can focus on, whether it’s violence on the internet or violence in games that our children play.“

These remarks prompted some chatter between people in the audience, which was around 30-50 people strong, and set the tone for the rest of the town hall meeting. Crapo, who openly admitted he was backed by the National Rifle Association while fielding questions about gun control, said he believed mental health was the main cause of mass shootings when pressed by several members of the audience to speak on the issue.

“Yes, I am supported by the NRA,” Crapo said. “Yes, I am a gun advocate. I believe in the Second Amendment very strongly in that it is an individual right for all Americans. Having said that, it is already unlawful in the United States for a person to use a true, automatic assault rifle. What’s being used today are semi-automatic firearms, which I don’t know what percentage it is, but a huge portion of the firearms that lawful, law-abiding, honorable Americans use for hunting, self-defense and recreation purposes. When you get into the discussion that any semi-automatic weapons should be banned, that’s a step that I just cannot take. It’s the majority of firearms.”

Aside from the gun control debate, the conversation turned toward public lands and the environment.

“I think that public lands are incredibly important; I don’t think we should sell them,” Crapo said. “We need to manage them in a way that not only protects the environment, but also strengthens and protects the rights of individuals, families and communities to thrive in places like here. I think we have shown very well over the last 10 or 15 years … that we can actually strengthen the environment and the economy at opportunity for people to live in the environment the same time.”

While the majority of the town hall involved gun control and environmental debates, Crapo did answer questions about education, the deficit and voter security, the former of which prompted him to say that education in America will improve if it isn’t federally managed.

“I really do believe the extent that which we can let state and local officials handle education, which is where education should be managed, that we can get better outcomes,” Crapo said.

Crapo also said he would not support a bill making vaccinations mandatory, which garnered some applause from those in attendance.

“That’s not a federal issue,” he said.

Before his 40-minute visit in Sagle, which went over his allotted 30-minute time frame, Crapo made visits to Cocolalla and Naples.

Kyle Cajero can be reached by email at kcajero@bonnercountydailybee.com and follow him on Twitter @KyleDailyBee.