Post-Uvalde, Boise City Council weighs in on gun control. What council just did
The Boise City Council passed a gun control resolution Tuesday amid nationwide discussions about strengthening gun control laws and months after a deadly shooting at the Boise Towne Square mall.
In its resolution, the mostly Democratic council “urges leaders at the state and federal level” to pass legislation ensuring the safety of residents. The council’s lone Republican opposed the measure.
In October, a man opened fire at a mall in Boise, killing two people and injuring four. In May, an 18-year-old used an AR-15-style rifle to kill 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas. That same month, another gunman killed 10 people at a Buffalo, New York, supermarket, in what authorities have said was a racially motivated attack.
Despite decades of limited federal action, President Joe Biden signed into law a bill this month to strengthen background checks for gun buyers, provide more funding for mental health services and and stop people convicted of domestic abuse from buying firearms for five years.
But more restrictive gun laws are widely opposed by the Republican Party. Idaho’s entire federal delegation voted against the recent gun bill. And on June 23, the Supreme Court issued an opinion further expanding gun rights, arguing that people have a constitutional right to carry a gun for self-defense outside their home.
The resolution passed Tuesday noted that there have been over 240 mass shootings in the U.S. in 2022, and that firearms were the leading cause of death in children and adolescents in 2020. It asked for more thorough background checks, restrictions on owning military-style guns, limiting the size of ammunition magazines and limits on firearm access for those in crisis. It also asked for federal removal of “barriers to comprehensive and well-funded research regarding gun violence as a critical public health issue.”
Members of a group called Moms Demand Action attended the council meeting.
Council President Pro Tem Holli Woodings, a former state legislator, said she wanted to urge those with authority to act on the issue.
“While I was serving in the Legislature, the Legislature removed the authority of cities to have any separate ordinances relating to gun control, including what we had at the time, which was the prohibition of carrying firearms in our parks facilities and on city streets,” Woodings said. She said she wants new laws “to help with safety in our schools, safety in our churches, in our grocery stores.”
Council Member Lisa Sánchez said that loose gun laws “support white supremacy.”
“It’s difficult for me to believe that these gun rights laws are for everyone. They’re not; they’re for white people, specifically for white men,” she said. “... It’s a shame that a state like Idaho has become synonymous with that kind of sentiment.”
Council Member Luci Willits, the body’s newest member, was the lone no vote.
“We’re elected to City Council. We’re not elected to Congress. We’re not elected to the state legislature,” she said. “This resolution will have no bearing on the operations of city government except to, I think, make a statement that will have very little impact.”
Council Member Patrick Bageant said he is likely the only firearm owner on the council, and certainly “by far the most avid one.”
“In a country where the one thing everyone should agree on is that children should be safe and deserve to live,” it “can’t seem to do that,” he said.
He said that his perspective is “very different” from his fellow council members, and that he has a lifelong personal connection with firearms.
“I read this resolution as not taking any strong position on what specifically needs to happen, but as acknowledging that we need to talk about it,” he said. “We haven’t made (progress) in 20 years, and these things keep happening.”
