Committee advances bill to protect carrying firearms on ‘normally and habitually’ public property

BOISE — The Idaho House State Affairs Committee voted to send House Bill 376 to the House floor with a “do pass” recommendation after testimony and questions about how the measure would affect leased public venues and events.

Representative Dale Hawkins, the bill sponsor, told the committee the legislation “concerns the people's right to carry firearms on property owned by the State and its political subdivisions and is normally habitually open to the public.” He said the bill aims to make clear that property routinely open to the public should not become off-limits to carry because of temporary signs or one-time events.

Proponent Scott Herndon, testifying remotely, said the bill would reverse parts of a 2023 Idaho Supreme Court decision in Herndon v. City of Sandpoint when applied to properties that are “normally and habitually” open to the public. He described last year’s Senate Bill 1374 as leaving three exceptions — “ticketed commercial events, events by invitation only, and events that have clearly restricted access to a reasonable person” — and said HB 376 would remove those exceptions so “if it passes, then all public property, all government owned property that is normally and officially open to the public on which you can currently carry a firearm will always be able to carry a firearm.”

Committee members asked how the bill would interact with existing restrictions for schools and universities. Hawkins and Herndon pointed to statutory exceptions: Herndon said the bill “will not impact 18-3302(c or) 18-3309,” referring to Idaho Code provisions that address schools and higher-education institutions. Hawkins told the committee the measure does not change university policies and that current school rules remain in force.

Lawmakers also probed how the bill would apply to leased or contracted public facilities. Herndon repeatedly used the Ford Idaho Center in Nampa as an example, saying the center’s events are licensed and contracted and therefore “not normally and habitually open to the public,” so existing weapon restrictions at such venues would remain in place under HB 376.

Not all committee members supported the change. Representative Achilles said he was “disappointed to see this because I think we're unwinding what was good legislation before” and warned the bill would reinsert ambiguity for event organizers and localities that had relied on the prior clarification.

Representative Hostetler moved to send HB 376 to the floor with a do-pass recommendation; the motion carried. The clerk recorded Representatives Schubin and Achilles as voting no; the committee did not record a full roll-call tally in the hearing transcript.

The bill now moves to the House floor for further consideration.