In 2014, the state of Idaho enacted a gun law that allows the concealed carry of weapons on the campuses of the state's colleges and universities.
The debate around the contentious issue went on long before Gov. C.L. "Butch" Otter signed the legislation into law on March 12, 2014. It went into effect four months later.
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Otter said school officials should be permitted to arm themselves, just as parents and airplane pilots are allowed to do so.
"The captains of the home are the parents. The captains of the schools are the people that run the schools,"
Otter told The New York Times in February 2013.
Students' responses to the gun law fell on both sides of the issue.
"I went to Boise State to get an education; I didn’t go to Boise to go to a gun show," student
Angel Hernandez told The Center for Public Integrity.
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However, other students, like Derek Sommer of Idaho State University, carry their concealed guns proudly.
"I don’t like the fact that there are some places where it’s considered OK to tell somebody, 'You don’t have the right to protect yourself,'" Sommer told The Center for Public Integrity.
Former Idaho state Rep. Shirley Ringo was unsure about how a college "beer culture" would fit in with having guns on campus.
"All I see is bullets zinging around,"
Ringo told The Associated Press. "I would certainly hate to get a phone call that there had been a party, and there had been a shooting."
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