Idaho Republicans vote to allow guns in schools. Here’s why that’s a bad idea | Opinion

Idaho Republican legislators on Wednesday ignored valuable testimony and serious flaws in a piece of legislation and voted 53-16 in favor of allowing school staff members to carry concealed weapons in public schools.

Not only did they ignore nearly all of the testimony that was presented in committee, but they also ignored their own concerns.

Consider these two exchanges on the House floor Wednesday.

Rep. Dan Garner, R-Clifton, asked the bill’s sponsor whether any superintendents in the state had asked him to bring forward the legislation.

“No,” was the reply.

Garner voted in favor of the bill.

Why would Garner even ask the question?

Rep. Mark Sauter, R-Sandpoint, said he had “real concerns” about the bill because it lacked training requirements. “That’s what I was really looking for, and I’m not seeing that,” he said. Sauter voted to pass the bill.

Even though they knew it was flawed, they voted in favor of it anyway. Why would they do such a thing?

We think we know why: This bill could become fodder in the upcoming closed Republican primary. If Garner and Sauter or any one of the Republican legislators voted against it, they could become targets of overly simplistic, incendiary attack ads from a farther-right challenger in the primary.

In Idaho, to pass legislation, you don’t have to do the right or sensible thing. All you have to do is appeal to the most extreme voters in the closed Republican primary.

The bill is flawed on a number of grounds.

As Rep. Greg Lanting, R-Twin Falls, pointed out, the Twin Falls School District told him it would immediately lose its insurance policy if this bill became law.

Regardless of your position on allowing guns in schools, that potential outcome deserves serious consideration.

Knowing this, Lanting, who was raised on a ranch and is an Idaho Air and Army National Guard veteran — and former teacher and principal — was one of the few legislators courageous enough to vote against the bill.

Further, as others pointed out, school boards in Idaho already have the power and authority to allow staff members to carry concealed weapons in school. It’s called local control, and it used to be something Republicans crowed about.

What this bill does is take away the decision from local school boards and local decision makers.

“Idaho House Bill 415 would remove local control from elected school boards to determine which, if any, staff would be allowed to carry firearms on campus,” Idaho Association of School Resource Officers President Morgan Ballis said in a statement.

Further, by ignoring the overwhelming testimony against the bill, legislators also voted against those who are on the front lines of the problem.

In addition to the Idaho Association of School Resource Officers and the Boise School District, the bill was also opposed by numerous citizens, former teachers, the Idaho PTA, the state’s teachers union and many school boards.

As others have pointed out, Idaho Republican legislators don’t trust librarians and teachers with books, but they’ll trust them with a concealed gun.

Books don’t kill people, or something like that.

Some legislators, such as Rep. Julianne Young, R-Blackfoot, and Rep. Jaron Crane, R-Nampa, claimed during a committee hearing that they were voting on behalf of parents who were emailing them with support for the bill.

First of all, “Objection, your honor,” the prosecutor might say. “Inadmissible! Hearsay and conjecture.”

Second, what about the parents who actually showed up and testified against the bill? Not only were their voices ignored, but now they have no choice, no say in whether someone brings a gun to their children’s school.

House Bill 415 would require teachers or other employees who want to carry guns to notify their principal, but it does not require them to notify their local school board, or students and parents. Or even other teachers.

We don’t buy the argument that this will serve as a deterrent to the next mass shooter. Most of these mass shooters either die by suicide or get shot by police. They know they’re headed for death. A possibly armed geography teacher won’t make a difference.

Finally, we don’t buy the argument, either, that more guns are the way to a safer environment. If that were the case, the United States would be the safest country in the world. Spoiler alert: We’re not even close.

We’re the only country that has this enormous problem, and the only solution put forward by the NRA and Republican lawmakers is more guns.

By that logic, the natural conclusion is to arm students. After all, shouldn’t students have the right to defend themselves, too?

So here’s a proposal for the next legislative session: Every Idaho K-12 student is to be issued a laptop and a handgun.

Or maybe wait two more years — for the next closed Republican primary.

Statesman editorials are the unsigned opinion of the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board. Board members are opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark, editor Chadd Cripe, newsroom editors Dana Oland and Jim Keyser and community members Mary Rohlfing and Patricia Nilsson.