Sponsors of SB 1254, the guns-on-campus bill, held a Statehouse press conference this afternoon to announce that the Idaho Sheriff’s Association, after a poll of its members, has endorsed the bill. “There was a pretty wide margin that were in favor of this bill,” said Adams County Sheriff Ryan Zollman, shown here at center, between bill sponsors Sen. Curt McKenzie, left, and Rep. Judy Boyle, right. “The main reason is legal citizens should not have their right to pack guns taken away from them.”

The bill, which is opposed by Idaho police chiefs, all of the state’s public college and university presidents and the state Board of Education, would allow retired law enforcement officers or people with Idaho's new enhanced concealed carry permit to carry guns on Idaho’s public college campuses. Boyle said she’s not concerned that petitions with close to 3,000 signatures against the bill were delivered to the House speaker today. “Unfortunately, a lot of people do not understand what that enhanced carry concealed permit requires,” Boyle said. “They have the idea that we are handing out guns on the campuses to 16-year-olds and this is not true - you have to be 21 or over, you have to have taken this class, and it’s an extensive class.”

She said, “When you go and buy a firearm, your intent is to practice with it, become efficient with it and effective, because you’re protecting yourself. Most people you would not even know the folks that carry in this building, because no one says, ‘Oh, by the way, I have a gun here.’ We do it because we want to be able to protect ourselves, and it’s really no one else’s business.”

The bill could come up for debate and a vote in the House as soon as tomorrow. At Friday's committee hearing on the measure, attorneys for universities raised concerns that the bill's wording creates a loophole to allow open carrying of firearms on campus - and even in venues like Bronco Stadium or the Kibbie Dome - though its sponsors say it's just about concealed guns. McKenzie dismissed that concern today, saying, "It's implied."