Thank you Mr. Chairman. I appreciate this opportunity to share with the Committee my concerns about Senate Bill
1254.
I have been accurately quoted in the media as saying this bill seems to be a solution looking for a non-existent problem.
Idaho’s college and university campuses are statistically among the safest in the nation.
And it worries me that the views of so many of the stakeholders
– those who would be most affected by this legislation – have not been heard, so thank you for your willingness to hear everyone out today.
The great majority of our 22,000 students, most of whom are from across the State of Idaho, do not want guns on their campus. The overwhelming majority of our faculty is united against having guns in their classrooms and elsewhere on our campus as well.
And I would like to read into the record a letter I received from the Chair of the Boise State University Parent & Family

Association, signed also by her husband who is active in the
2 association and a police detective:
Dear President Kustra,
As parents of a Boise State student, we are voicing our decided opposition to Senate Bill No. 1254 which would allow guns on Idaho's public university and college campuses. We support the Boise State University administration, educational leaders from the state of Idaho, and Idaho law enforcement in respectfully opposing this bill on the grounds that it is a dangerous, costly, and ineffective solution to a problem that thankfully does not exist at our daughter’s university. As parents, we cannot and will not trust a private citizen to defend our daughter’s right to academic freedom. We believe she should be allowed to think, learn, and express her ideas in the classroom and throughout campus without fear of retribution. We have faith in our university community and hope you will stand with us as fellow parents and family members in opposing this legislation.
(signed) Fay Bevans
Chair, Boise State University Parent & Family Association

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(signed) Bill Bevans
Council Member, Boise State University Parent & Family
Association
I have heard from many in Bronco Nation that they do not want weapons openly carried into Bronco Stadium or Taco
Bell Arena, as this bill would now allow. They also do not want to stand in long lines to go through metal detectors so we can assure that no one is carrying a concealed weapon into Bronco Stadium or Taco Bell Arena.
In addition to representing those students, faculty and parents who asked me to convey their thoughts to you today,
I believe the most important thing I must do is address the claim, recently offered by supporters of the legislation, that we already have “open carry” at Boise State University. I have been president at Boise State for 10 years and for those years and to my knowledge in all prior years, we have never allowed guns on campus. To say we already have
“open carry” on our campus is simply not accurate.
We ban guns, including those openly carried, under the authority of the State Board of Education. SB 1254 strips

that authority, which removes our ability to ban weapons.
If you tried to openly carry a gun on the Boise State campus today the police wo uld respond in force to a “gun on campus” call. If there is not a crime in progress when the police arrive, the gun carrier would be removed from the campus.
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We do not currently allow the open carrying of guns on our campus and it is a fiction to imply that we do.
I remember what we called “merely” bills from my days as a legislator. There is nothing “merely” about what this bill does. It would make Idaho’s public university campuses the only ones in the nation required to allow the open carrying of weapons by permit holders. The handful of other states that allow concealed carry on public campuses, do not allow open carry. Including Utah. To be clear, there is no open carry on the campuses of public universities in Utah.
On a personal note, I’ve got to tell you that it is painful for me to even think about someone openly carrying weapons strapped to their hips or shoulders across our campus. Into

5 our classrooms. Into the Student Union. Into the Child Care
Center with infants and toddlers. Into the summer camps with hundreds of elementary and high school students.
Kathy and I have grown to love this state. But we are mystified why our friends in the legislature are insisting on this over the objections of nearly everyone most closely affected by this measure.
I think it would be accurate to say that this body is generally regarded as conservative and cautious. And here in Idaho, that is seen as a good way for our elected officials to be. But it seems anything but conservative and cautious to become the first and only state in the nation to mandate the open carrying of guns onto a public university campus.
We are moving into uncharted territory and no one among us knows what the effect or impact would be. I am very uncomfortable with the thought that our campus, and others in Idaho, would be the testing grounds and our students, faculty and visitors the unwitting participants in an experiment with an unpredictable outcome.

There are so many unknowns with this bill. What might the
6 effect be on student recruitment both in Idaho and out of state? How might prospective students and their parents react when on their campus visits they see weapons being openly carried about campus?
How would it affect employee rules and practices? Currently at Boise State, like at most American companies, no employee is allowed to carry a gun. If this bill passes, supervisors lose their right to control their own employees. If one of your employees refused your instructions regarding carrying a weapon at your business, what would you do? In a worst case scenario, we could be giving carte blanche to a troublesome employee with a performance issue to carry a gun at work and his supervisor would have no say over it.
This places supervisors in an untenable position.
How might it affect bookings for conferences in our Student
Union Building or entertainment at Taco Bell Arena? When we booked George Straight, Reba McEntire, Toby Keith,
Jason Aldean, Beyoncé and others, we had to verify that the facility was weapon free. SB 1254 would require us to restrict concealed carry of weapons in facilities with seating

for 1000 or more, which includes the Arena. But it would be
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OK to openly carry a weapon in the Arena and in that case we would certainly lose such acts.
Finally – and most importantly -- how might it affect the atmosphere in the classroom? How might it affect the learning process itself? How might it impact our ability to attract faculty?
I join with the other sitting presidents and the State Board of
Education in stating my concern about what it would cost to implement this legislation? The estimates from across the state are very substantial and there is no funding provided to pay for it. I have appreciated in the past Idaho’s disdain for unfunded mandates. This bill presents a very significant price tag for universities with no new revenue to pay the tab.
There are those who wonder why we would need to undertake new and costly security measures as a result of this bill, measures that we don’t need now to enforce our current weapons ban?

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First, this bill creates new statutory requirements that require us to implement the act fully to avoid a risk management nightmare. The statute would, therefore, very likely require enhanced access control equipment and procedures.
Second, because this bill would allow guns on campus, when they were not present before, it would essentially be necessary for campus security to transform into a public safety department that includes an armed security officer program.
Both the equipment and armed security officer program would be very costly, we estimate nearly $2 million in the first year.
There has also been much talk about how this bill protects a basic right – the right of the Second Amendment. But the
United States Supreme Court, including its most conservative justices, has long held that restrictions in schools and government buildings do not violate the Second
Amendment. We have heard some proponents of this bill say that “schools” in this context do not include postsecondary institutions. But the Supreme Court ruling on

schools is NOT limited to K-12. In Idaho, schools are K-12
9 and higher education. Plus, the same Supreme Court has ruled that "Government Buildings" are in the same category as schools. All buildings on Boise State's campus are
Government Buildings. Therefore, regulating firearms in those buildings and on higher education campuses does not violate the 2nd Amendment or Idaho's Constitution.
And if the proponents are trying to fulfill a basic right by removing restrictions on weapons on college campuses, why only apply it to public campuses? BYU-Idaho, Northwest
Nazarene University and the College of Idaho, for example, all prohibit guns on their campuses. The enactment of SB
1254 would not restore that right on any of their campuses.
Do those schools operate outside of the constitutions of the
United States and Idaho? It surely fails, at the very least, the test of fairness it seems to me. Especially fairness to our students and faculty.
I appreciate this opportunity to share my views and the concerns of Boise State University relative to Senate Bill
1254. In closing, I would urge this body not to undercut the authority of the State Board of Education in this matter.

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Board members do a great job of governing K-20 education in our state. You trust them to govern all matters, financial and otherwise. Why not when it comes to guns on campus?
They understand better than anyone the nature of each of the affected campuses, as well as their differences, as they travel the state holding their regular meetings on a rotating basis at all the campuses. They are unanimous in their opposition to this legislation. And why ignore the recommendations of every sitting president of every public college, university, community and technical college in the state? You trust these presidents in all other matters of administering their complex institutions. Please, please do not enact SB 1254 and put guns openly on the campuses of
Idaho’s public universities.