Campus carry bill clears Idaho panel

BOISE — Riding roughshod over the objections of Idaho’s eight colleges and universities — and the State Board of Education — a state Senate committee last Wednesday approved NRA-backed legislation creating exceptions for carrying firearms on college campuses.

In the end, the two Democrats on the nine-member Senate State Affairs Committee were outgunned in the 7-2 party-line vote dominated by majority Republicans — despite the testimony of one man who identified himself as “a lifelong Republican,” opposed to Senate Bill 1254.

And representing Boise State University, former Idaho GOP House speaker Bruce Newcomb painted the situation as a political one, with the legislation being “ripe for the political times.”

“When I was in the Legislature, I used to say, you always had to wait until the fruit was ripe — if you picked it too early it was no good, if you waited too long, it was rotten,” said Newcomb, opposing SB1254 on behalf of his employer, BSU. “Well, the fruit is ripe, according to the NRA.”

National Rifle Association of America lobbyist Dakota Moore testified for 47 minutes, more than 25 percent of the nearly three-hour committee hearing that resulted in sending the measure to the Senate floor.

North Idaho College spokesman Mark Browning, who described himself as the great-great-great grandson of American gun inventor John Browning, acknowledged that lawmakers were faced with a tough task on the issue of local versus state control.

“It’s a difficult, difficult thing that’s in front of you today,” Browning said. “Local authority is a very strong issue, and it’s up to you to balance the needs of one over the needs of others.”

College and university presidents, including NIC President Joe Dunlap, have said the institutions have set campus gun policies that work locally. NIC has a no-carry campus gun policy.

While SB1254’s sponsor — Sen. Curt McKenzie, R-Nampa — described the measure as one that would pack only minimal fiscal impact, Browning and others disagreed.

Browning said that at the minimum it would cost NIC an estimated $130,000 or $140,000 to upgrade school security if the Senate measure becomes law.

“It’s tough,” Browning said.

(Dave Goins writes for the Northwest News Service)