The Idaho Sheriffs Association will endorse a permitless carry bill set for hearing in an Idaho Senate committee next week, the group said Thursday.
ISA Executive Director Vaughn Killeen told IdahoReporter.com his members voted this week endorse the plan, and he plans to testfiy at the Monday morning hearing in the Senate State Affairs.
Killeen said that while his group’s position is public, ISA won’t release a statement in support.
This is the second vote of its type in less than a week. Just days ago, ISA endorsed a prior version of the permitless carry by an “overwhelming” majority, the director said.
He didn’t not tell IdahoReporter.com the margin for the latest vote, which closed Wednesday night.
Idaho Second Amendment Alliance President Greg Pruett, who’s been pushing permitless carry for four years, praised the group’s endorsement.
“We are pleased that the sheriffs in Idaho have come out in favor of permitless carry,” Pruett said Thursday. “We want the sheriffs and other law enforcement to know that we will fight for uniformity in our laws to make their jobs much easier. But we will fight for the expansion of rights to make it uniform and we know that they will be on board with that as well.”
Some Idaho sheriffs have served as the leading law enforcement voices endorsing permitless carry. Retiring Madison County Sheriff Roy Klingler has long voiced his support for the concept, and Teton County Sheriff Tony Liford told IdahoReporter.com last year that he backs the idea, too.
