 |
DAVID FRAZIER Boise Guardian |
A bill currently before the Idaho legislature would make it legal for all citizens to carry concealed guns. Currently only folks with a permit and elected officials can carry concealed without a permit.
Smith and Wesson .38 caliber snub nose revolver.
When it comes to guns, Idaho laws and public policies make no sense and have little logic or consistency.
After Guv Butch signed the “enhanced carry law†last year, allowing gun toters with a special permit to carry concealed weapons on college campuses, the institutions of higher learning claimed it cost them $3.7 million for additional security. Huh?
At least at BSU they upped their security checks, installing magnetometers at the entrance to whatever they call Bronco Stadium these days. Do they now catch people with enhanced permits? What prompted the security searches at football games, but left the entrances to the basketball arena (currently called Taco Bell) unguarded? We would sure like to know if football fans are more prone to packing heat than basketball fans.
If the legislature rescinded the enhanced carry law and banned ALL concealed weapons on campus, would BSU and the other schools reduce their security staffs and do away with the intrusive searches? We find it absurd to blame the legislature for the $3.7 million “extra security†expense.
The public search process at the Ada Courthouse is just as difficult to understand. Employees use a side entrance and are not subjected to the same personal intrusion as couples seeking marriage licenses or lawyers attending hearings. All those elected judges, commishes, the treasurer, clerk, and assessor can pack heat. They also park in the basement and can bring in their friends and relatives without being searched. “Lock the front door, but leave the back open for the kids.â€
Boise City Hall and the Idaho Capitol have no such search requirements for admission.
It isn’t much more logical at the airport where TSA will SELL you some sort of pre-check pass that allows you to keep your belt cinched up and not risk athletes foot padding around shoeless in the footprints of god-only-knows who walked before you. You can also be “randomly selected†for the same TSA courtesy bypass of the body scanner and strip line.
Here is the final irony. If you want a gun for “protection,†think about a bullet proof vest instead. Chances are it will be easier to obtain a gun than a vest.
