Two powerful chairmen and a powerful chairwoman oppose permitless carry in Idaho. From left to right: Chairman Woods, Chairwoman Bell and Chairman Wills. These three representatives control three of the most powerful committees in the Idaho legislature. They can pass bills and stop bills. They can prevent bills from ever seeing the light of day. It seems that they have done so. The final vote in the House was 54 to 15. Only active suppression by the legislative leadership could keep that sort of support bottled up. And it did. Until now. From Idaho Reporter.com . . .
Three high-profile Republican House members opposed a bill Friday that would allow permitless concealed carry throughout Idaho.
Despite the opposition from most House Democrats and Reps. Maxine Bell, R-Jerome, Rep. Rich Wills, R-Glenns Ferry, and Fred Wood, R-Burley, the bill cleared the chamber on 54 to 14 vote and now moves to Gov. Butch Otter’s desk for his consideration.
If these three Chairs are against you in the Idaho legislature, it does not matter very much who is for you. It takes the overwhelming force of a higher power to overcome the resistance of the massive legislative clout of these Chairs. And that’s exactly what happened.
The overwhelming force was the force of the voters in Idaho, organized by the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance. At a recent rally, a thousand pro-Constitutional Carry demonstrators showed up at the Idaho capitol. Also on the side of the bill: the vast majority of Idaho sheriffs in the Idaho Sheriffs Association, the Fraternal Order of Police and the NRA.
I’ve seen this pattern before, in numerous other legislative bodies, and in many executive offices. The longer a person stays in power, the more arrogant and distainful of the people they become; and they become more and more likely to wish the people disarmed.
The bill has not yet passed. It has been sent to Governor Butch Otter. Governor Otter has been pro-Second Amendment in the past; he’s expected to sign the bill. If he does not veto it, it will become law five days (not counting Sunday) after it is enrolled and the Governor receives it. The legislative web site is not yet showing it as enrolled.
©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
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