A committee in the GOP-controlled Idaho House of Representatives approved a Senate-passed measure that would prevent government entities in the state from enforcing new Biden administration executive orders that regulate gun ownership.
The House State Affairs Committee, which has 12 Republicans and only two Democrats, voted on Monday to send the Idaho Firearm and Firearm Accessories and Components Protection Act to the full House. The bill would make state government officials and entities responsible for a $1,000 civil penalty if they authorize the enforcement of “any executive order, agency order, treaty, law, rule, or regulation of the United States government” that violates the state’s constitutional guarantee of the right to bear arms.
“What the goal is is to prevent local law enforcement from enforcing unconstitutional gun laws that are unconstitutional at the state level,” Idaho Sen. Steve Vick, who was one of 28 state senators who voted the bill through their chamber on Tuesday, told the Washington Examiner. “We have a little stronger constitutional amendment in our constitution than the Second Amendment.”
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Idaho’s state constitution says that “no law shall impose licensure, registration or special taxation on the ownership or possession of firearms or ammunition. Nor shall any law permit the confiscation of firearms, except those actually used in the commission of a felony.”
“We’re trying to be proactive, not reactive,” Vick said of Republicans.
Democratic state Rep. Chris Mathias, who opposed the measure’s passage out of committee, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The legislation already passed the Republican-led state Senate by a 28-7 vote.
If signed into law by the Republican governor, the bill would be retroactive to Jan. 20, President Joe Biden’s first day in office. Biden issued a number of executive orders on guns during the month of April, including one that would crack down on homemade “ghost guns” and one directing the Justice Department to propose a rule clarifying whether the use of a stabilizing brace effectively turns a pistol into a rifle, making it subject to certain regulations under the National Firearms Act.
The current bill is the second of its kind in Idaho. Lawmakers passed a similar measure, which Vick authored, in 2014, and the current measure cites itself as an extension of the 2014 measure.
“This added to the protections that we already had in place,” Vick said, noting that the bill also applies to the enforcement of international treaties that regulate guns.
A spokesperson for Republican Gov. Brad Little did not indicate whether he supports the bill, telling the Washington Examiner that he does not typically comment on pending legislation, but Little has publicly pushed back on the Biden administration’s executive action on guns.
“Idaho will not stand for President Biden’s unilateral actions to erode your Second Amendment rights,” Little said in an April 8 tweet, adding that he and the state’s congressional delegation “are in lockstep” in opposing Biden’s executive orders.
I will continue to stand up for Idahoans’ Second Amendment rights! pic.twitter.com/GLA5XByVbo
— Brad Little (@GovernorLittle) April 8, 2021
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Lawmakers in Alabama are also debating a measure that would block authorities from enforcing gun control laws.
