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Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)-
The above rally in Boise, on Saturday, 21 February, 2015, was attended by over 200 supporters of H0089. The bill, which would remove a number of current restrictions on the carry of firearms in Idaho law. The local media is said to have reported that there were “dozens” That is accurate but misleading. After all, 300 people are also “dozens” of people. Common usage is that once 200 items are reached, they are called “hundreds”, not “dozens”. From ISSA facebook page:
Watched Channel 2 and 7 news tonight. No surprise that coverage was sparse and biased. Good thing we have other media outlets like TVOI to do some great coverage of our events.
Channel 7 said “dozens” gathered. Our estimates were probably around 300. So saying “hundreds” would have been too difficult for them to swallow apparently.
There was a sister rally in Rexburg. Here is an image of it.
The rally in Rexburg was also in support of HB89, a bill that would complete Idaho’s reform to a constitutional carry state. From localnews8.com:
REXBURG, Idaho – If passed, House Bill 89 would allow people to carry guns without a concealed weapons permit.
Currently under Idaho code, it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon without a license.
“We’re committed to keep doing this until we see some changes,” Dan Roberts said.
Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Vermont, and Wyoming have constitutional carry.
“We think it’s time for Idaho to get on board,” Roberts said.
Unfortunately, the reporter makes a serious error in the second sentence. Idahoans can already carry concealed in 99% of the state without a concealed carry permit. From idaho.gov:
(12) The requirement to secure a license to carry a concealed weapon under this section shall not apply to the following persons:
(snip)
(d) Any person outside the limits of or confines of any city while engaged in lawful hunting, fishing, trapping or other lawful outdoor activity;
The vast majority of Idaho is outside of cities. It is one of the most rural states. What is lawful outdoor activity? Virtually every activity that takes place outside that is lawful; in other words, every activity outside that is not forbidden by law.
That exception, (d) is clearly over 99% of the State. So the entire battle is for the remaining small portion of the state that is not already legal to carry without a permit. The bill even allows those “progressive” strongholds, the Universities, their bans on people concealed carrying on campus without an enhanced permit.
The state level organic organizations, such as ISAA, are what are driving the second amendment restoration movement. The organizations are as “grassroots” as it gets, operating on little or no money. They often have little liking or respect for the NRA, which is regarded as too timid, slow in response, and bureaucratic to be of much help.
Idaho is regarded as a “gun friendly” state, yet it did not pass a “shall issue” CCW law until 1990, and has been incrementally reforming its gun laws since that time. A very mild “campus carry” law was passed last year, 2014, but it only applied to the tiny number of people in Idaho who qualify under their “enhanced carry” permit law.
The “campus carry” bill was fought hard by the old media and their allies in academia. They resorted to fabrications and had the support of the NYTs. As second amendment supporters would say, “the usual”. They failed. The bill was passed and signed into law.
ISSA is not going away. They have been pushing for constitutional carry for two years, and they are making progress. What they are asking for is a small, but important, incremental change in the law.
This is the sort of activism that is being used to reform gun laws and restore second amendment rights all over the country.
c2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch
About Dean Weingarten;
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.