Bill Description: Senate Bill 1262 would clarify that firearm rights may not be abridged during declared disaster emergencies. 

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Does it violate the spirit or the letter of either the U.S. 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 U.S. Constitution or the Idaho Constitution?

Senate Bill 1262 amends Section 46-1008, Idaho Code, which deals with the powers of the governor during declared disaster emergencies. This bill adds language which clarifies that existing protections related to firearms and ammunition also apply to "their components and accessories." The bill would also prevent the declaration of a disaster emergency from being used as a pretext to "suspend or revoke a license to carry concealed weapons or refuse to accept and process an application for a license to carry concealed weapons."

It also clarifies that the governor's power to "commandeer or utilize any private property, real or personal, if he finds this necessary to cope with the disaster emergency" does not apply to "any privately owned firearm, ammunition, or firearms or ammunition components that are possessed, carried, displayed, sold, transferred, transported, stored, or used in connection with otherwise lawful conduct."

Finally, the bill declares that firearm-related businesses are "life-sustaining, essential businesses and services for the purposes of safety and security in times of declared emergency or any other statutorily authorized responses to disaster, war, acts of terrorism, riot or civil disorder, public health crises, or emergencies of whatever kind or nature."

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