Idaho Gun Law Changes Proposed

February 18, 2011 KTRV channel 12 reports that two bills are being introduced in the Idaho legislature, one of which would repeal the current requirement for a concealed weapon permit, and the other to allow permit holders to carry on campus.

Abolishing the concealed carry permit requirement would simply mean that if you can legally own a handgun, you can legally carry it concealed.  If you are in a prohibited category (convicted felon, convicted of domestic violence misdemeanor, committed for mental illness, illegal alien) then you cannot carry.  Some call this "constitutional carry."  I really do not have a fundamental problem with "constitutional carry."  Vermont has had it without problem since it was founded.  Alaska and Arizona now have this same law.  It does simplify matters a bit for police, however, if you can show them a license in the unlikely event that a police officer has occasion to ask any questions.  The permit process here is so simple and reasonably priced that this would not be at the top of my list of laws to fix.

Allowing those with concealed carry permits to carry on campus, however, is something that makes more sense to me.  Experience so far shows that people with severe mental illness who decide to go on a rampage do not stop at the boundaries of college campuses because of their no-gun rules--and that worries me far more than the rather remote possibility that a permit holder student or faculty member is going to lose his temper.