Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — A plan to rewrite Idaho's concealed weapons code has passed a House panel. The House State Affairs Committee voted 13-4 along party lines Friday to endorse a bill clarifying that Idahoans can carry concealed weapons without a permit outside city limits. An earlier version of the bill also would have removed exempting elected officials and government employees from carrying concealed weapons without a permit. A bill to remove the exemption passed House last year but died in a Senate committee. Republican Rep. Judy Boyle from Midvale says that most of the Republican-controlled panel didn't want it taken out. However, Democratic Rep. John McCrostie from Garden City raised concerns that the public had not had time to testify on the updated version, which was unveiled Friday morning.

Idaho Statesman reporter Bill Dentzer has a full report here, including Boyle’s explanation of how state lawmakers got the exemption in the first place: She says it came after a sheriff who was involved in a political dispute with a state senator revoked the senator's concealed carry permit. The senator "felt that was intimidation. That's why he put (the exemption) in the code and it's been there ever since," Boyle said.