The ISAA has had a number of victories from our Preemption Project over the last six months. Idaho Preemption prohibits cities/counties from enacting ordinances that regulate almost every aspect of firearms. Our Preemption Project has helped overturn a dozen ordinances that were in violation of state law. We are working with another 37 municipalities to help them correct their ordinances. We have also been successful in getting several cities to take down signs that banned firearms in public places such as parks. While we are pleased with the progress we have made so far, there is one victory that has eluded us the last several years, getting Idaho citizens Constitutional Carry.
For those who may not be familiar, Constitutional Carry (sometimes called permitless carry) means that any law abiding citizen who is not currently prohibited from owning or purchasing a firearm can carry their firearm concealed without a permit. You have a God given right to defend yourself. You do not need the government’s permission to exercise that right. The Founding Fathers even enshrined that right for us in the 2nd Amendment when they said that it “shall not be infringed.” Yet citizens have allowed the government, at many levels, to infringe on that right. It is time to take it back.
Five states currently have Constitutional Carry. Those states are Vermont, Alaska, Arizona, Wyoming, Oklahoma and Arkansas. You are going to hear a lot of fear mongering and lying about what Constitutional Carry will do when it is passed in Idaho. If our argument here doesn’t convince you that it is all wrong, then I challenge you to research Constitutional Carry in the five states that have it. Try to find any stories about how common citizens will go crazy and start shooting each other because they do not have a plastic card in their wallet. It is not happening in those states because the law abiding citizens who are carrying now and not randomly shooting people will continue to do so when they do not have a permit. In fact Vermont has never required a permit from its citizens and there are no shootouts and mass killings by law abiding gun owners. The Teton County Sheriff in Wyoming recently told us that he actually opposed Constitutional Carry in his state because he feared his deputies might be in greater danger. However, he now admits that there are no issues with it and none of his fears came true. Good people will be good people still and bad people will be bad people still. A little card in your wallet will not change that.
The ISAA has posted a video on Youtube which you can find at www.idahosaa.org which explain a little more about Constitutional Carry. We tackle many of the myths surrounding it. Please watch the video and share it with your family and friends so they can understand.
More importantly, we will be holding a rally on February 21st, 2015 for Constitutional Carry. The details of that rally can be found on the ISAA website as well as our Facebook page. We need thousands of Idaho citizens to attend the rally so they can see how serious we are about wanting Constitutional Carry.
