Bill Description: Senate Bill 1310 would clarify that the lawful carry of a firearm cannot be suspended on public property that is leased to a private entity if the property is open to the general public with free, unrestricted access.

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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?

Idaho law generally prohibits public (government) entities from restricting the right of the people to lawfully possess and carry firearms, although exceptions exist for schools, jails, and courthouses. 

A recent state Supreme Court decision created a significant loophole in this protection, allowing a non-government entity that leases or rents public property to declare that property a "gun-free zone" and use government resources to enforce this prohibition. 

NOTE: This decision was fundamentally flawed because it is both legally and logically impossible to delegate authority one does not possess. Government doesn't have the authority to prohibit the lawful carry of a firearm in a public park; therefore, it cannot grant that authority to a third party who is using the park. 

Senate Bill 1310 would amend Section 18-3302, Idaho Code, to close this loophole under some (but not all) circumstances. It would add a subsection that says, "Unless otherwise prohibited in this chapter, nothing in this section shall be construed to limit the right to keep and bear arms on any property owned by the state of Idaho or its political subdivisions that is leased, rented, licensed, loaned, permitted, or occupied, whether for consideration or not, to any private entity or person if such private entity or person exclusively and continuously possesses and enjoys the use of such property for an event that would appear to a reasonable person to be open to the general public with free, unrestricted access. Nothing in this subsection relieves any political subdivision of the state of Idaho of its duties to convey or manage public property in accordance with Idaho law."

This protection of the right to keep and bear arms would only apply when the private entity allowed "free, unrestricted access" to the public property it had leased or rented. It would not apply, for example, to an event where tickets are required for entry. 

While this bill takes steps to partially correct the miscarriage of justice committed by the court, it falls short of fully correcting the error. 

The law should explicitly prohibit any restrictions or limitations whatsoever on the right of the people to lawfully possess and carry firearms on government property, even when it is leased, rented, licensed, loaned, permitted, or occupied, whether for consideration or not, to any private entity or person for any purpose or for any duration. 

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