Local senator says gun accident only a matter of time

Sen. Roy Lacey is speaking out after an Idaho State University professor was injured after his gun accidentally discharged in his pocket in the middle of a class Tuesday.

Lacey said the law allowing guns on campus in the first place is a bad law. He said politically, many legislators who didn’t really think it was a good idea still voted for it because it’s an election year. As for the new gun law, advocates say it’s all about personal safety and defense.

Lacey said one of the big things supporters of the guns on campus bill said is that the enhanced permit requires a lot more training.

“Enhanced training is eight hours,” Lacey said. “And part of that eight hours is shooting 100 rounds. It doesn’t really teach you how to be safe.”

Lacey said the legislature should have listened to those most affected by the bill, including law enforcement, university security, and university leadership across the state that didn’t support it because they know best about what they do and where guns fit in.

“Even on the floor of the senate, there are people that carry every day,” Lacey said. “They’re loaded. Why?”

Lacey said this accident could have been a lot worse and, many students are saying the same thing.

After the gun went off at the Physical Science Complex Tuesday, many students expressed concern about not receiving an alert. But the university said those alerts are meant for emergency situations where students may be in danger, and this didn’t qualify.”

“In yesterday’s incident, once our campus security officers responded, they immediately assessed the situation and determined it was an isolated incident,” said Adrienne King, director of Marketing and Communications. “It was determined it was unnecessary to alarm the campus community and cause unnecessary fear and scare.”

King also said the university has run several emergency drills and tested plans to prepare for any kind of incident causing students to be unsafe. She said ongoing threats, from vandalism to major emergencies on campus have protocols, and the protocol for this situation was followed.

Lacey said he feared something like this would happen with the new law that took effect July 1, but he didn’t think it would happen so soon. Idaho State University has paid $1 million to comply with the law and Boise State University has paid $1.4 million.