Bill description: HB 209 would allow law enforcement officers to arrest an individual without a warrant if the officer is responding to a report that the individual has made a threat against a school.

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Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the US Constitution or the Idaho Constitution? Examples include restrictions on speech, public assembly, the press, privacy, private property, or firearms. Conversely, does it restore or uphold the protections guaranteed in the US Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?

Currently, a law enforcement officer who is responding to a report that someone has committed assault, battery, domestic violence, first- or second-degree stalking, or violated a protection or no-contact order can arrest that individual.

HB 209 would also give law enforcement officials the authority to arrest someone without a warrant if the person has been reported to have made a threat against a school (or someone in the school) and has a dangerous weapon in their possession.

The underlying crime, “threatening violence upon school grounds — firearms and other deadly weapons” (Section 18-3302I, Idaho Code), is a very open-ended statute. A student who makes a threat on social media against a teacher who gave them a failing grade could be a charged with a crime if the student had access to guns in the house. If another individual reported that threat on social media, law enforcement officials could go to the student’s home and arrest them.

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