Idaho lawmakers wouldn’t let students speak against guns in schools. Read them here | Opinion

Editor’s note: These four students were among the people who signed up to testify against House Bill 415, which expands concealed carry in Idaho schools. The committee voted to advance the bill without hearing them. The Statesman reached out to offer them a forum for views the committee refused to hear.

Eloísa Harper

The true stakeholders in critical situations will never be heard. My name is Eloísa Harper and I am 15 years old, attending Boise High School as a junior. Recently, in the Idaho legislature, there has been a new bill introduced. House Bill 415 allows any school staff member, including volunteers, to conceal carry a firearm on any school campus in Idaho. At the hearing for this bill on Jan. 24, 2024, the bill was voted on and proceeded to the floor.

The committee allowed public testimony, barely. The perspective of an NRA representative who claimed that statistics were not necessary in supporting this bill was held much higher over the perspectives of the people actually affected by this bill. Students.

As the youngest in that room, I knew my perspective was imperative, however my legislators were not willing to extend 15 more minutes of their time to hear from people who were directly affected by 415. So, I’m writing this opinion in order to educate and give my testimony, because it needs to be heard.

“Guns are not the problem” was a direct quote from the hearing. Over time, history has proven this wrong. This is undeniable. Guns kill people. Guns give more people access to killing people, the issue is guns. The exposure to guns and automatic weapons is what is creating this epidemic of violence across our country. If more guns everywhere made us safer, America would be the safest country on earth. Instead, we have a gun homicide rate 26x that of other high-income countries.

How does our community think it is a good idea to trust a librarian with a weapon to “protect our children” when we “can’t trust them to pick appropriate material” for our child. I think the hypocrisy in this ideology is nearly comical. Teachers didn’t become teachers to shoot people.

As a student, I am horrified. This bill has added to my fear. Everyday I fear that my education will be interrupted by gunshots. More gunshots won’t make any student feel safer or better. I am scared that my little brother won’t ever come home from school. I am scared that I will have to desperately text my mother that I’m not sure if I’ll come home, but I love her and I’m so thankful for everything she has done for me. I am scared that I will have to witness the loss of one of my friend’s lives.

I feel threatened.

Further, the community clearly lacks support for this bill. We see an absence of letters of support from places that play an important role in the conversation of guns on campuses. The Idaho High School Activities Associations, Parent Teacher Associations, The Idaho Office of School Safety and Security, Idaho Education Association, The Association of Idaho School Administrators. The list goes on. But I would argue that we see an absence of support from the most important stakeholder surrounding this topic. Students.

It is our safety being threatened.

Guns. Scare. Us.

Having a gun on campus gives an individual more access to a gun. Having a gun in a curious kindergarten classroom leads the way to a plethora of mortal accidents. Having a gun in a middle school or high school classroom increases the risk of something not so accidental. Seeing the mental health crisis in our community among our youth the worst thing we as a state can do is increase exposure and access to firearms in schools.

Please, call your legislators, email, and advocate. This bill will only further the tragedy we see today.

Lillie Young

My name is Lillie Young, I am 19 years old, and (like many Idahoans) I like to shoot guns.

From an early age I was taught about gun safety. Firearm safety courses are critical to ensuring people use their guns in a way that is moral, safe, and ideally enjoyable. Gun safety classes do not make guns look bad. These same principles must be applied to laws surrounding firearms.

I was raised by a man who lives and breathes guns. I understand the positive cultural significance guns have in this state, however we cannot fear making firearms look bad at the expense of quality solutions. H415 contains a dangerous loophole in which a hypothetical perpetrator could sign up to volunteer at a school and concealed carry a weapon onto school property. Even if the majority of volunteers carrying are in good faith, they have the ability to point and pull the trigger.

One bullet is too many.

Moreover, school employees are not perfectly filtered. My junior year of high school, a substitute worked two days at the school while on hard drugs. During these days she became paranoid, threw a chair and barricaded students in the room.

When tensions rise in the classroom, students are known to strike back. While K-12 students may be young, many are capable of overpowering faculty members. Should tensions arise between a student and a faculty member actively carrying, I have to imagine how sour things could turn. I have seen firsthand the creativity of high school students. The amount of damage to school property that can be inflicted with a cafeteria spoon is astonishing.

Throwing firearms into the mix opens the door for tragedy, and the lack of sunset clause in this bill gives me no peace of mind that a potential incident would be isolated.

Olivia Luna

My name is Olivia Luna, I’m 18 years old, and I was born and raised here in the Treasure Valley. I graduated high school in 2023 after having the privilege of attending amazing public schools in both the Nampa and West Ada School Districts for 13 years.

Last year, I served on my school’s student council where we had meetings with our superintendent every semester. Leading up to these meetings, we would talk with our peers and make lists of what we wanted to discuss.

I can guarantee this: not a single time was the subject of wanting guns in our classrooms brought up.

Further, as I’ve visited so much of my beautiful state over the years, I have seen firsthand how unique every single county, region, and town really is. To ignore that and instead try to use blanket policy like this is not only risky, but entirely unnecessary.

This bill is not a tool in the toolkit, it is opening Pandora’s box.

I trust our police and public safety officers, I trust our elected officials on school boards, and I trust students who are watching their peers die unnecessary deaths. Listen to people who actually sit in those classrooms and spend time in schools. I ask that our legislators do the same and let this bill die here. Because if not this bill, it will be us.

Yvonne Shen

My name is Yvonne Shen, and I’m a junior at Boise High School who was born and raised in Idaho. For the past 11 years, I have been enrolled in Idaho public schools. The knowledge, experiences and connections I’ve gained thanks to our school system have heavily shaped me into the person I am today. School is a place where I go to learn, connect, and build the foundation for a better future. But if House Bill 415 is passed, things will drastically change for me.

While the logic that arming teachers allows for faster response in the actual case of a shooting is intuitive, evidence has shown otherwise. A 2018 study done by by Emory and George Mason University researchers found “no evidence that the presence of resource officers in schools lessened the severity of school shooting incidents.” Arming school staff also allows much easier access to firearms for students. From accidentally leaving guns unattended, to unintentionally discharging weapons, and more, increasing the presence of guns around schools inherently increases the risks of misuse. No matter how well you train people, accidents will always happen, and each accident is a situation of life or death. Especially in the midst of the mental health crisis we currently face in schools, more often than not, unintended gun usage may not be a direct accident.

Seventy percent of teenagers, 80% of teachers, and 70% of parents all oppose arming teachers.

To my legislators, I beg of you, listen to the stakeholders in these situations. The chances of my school’s name being the next news headline are much higher than they should be, and many of my peers and I already fear for our safety every day at school. By passing HB415 and arming teachers, we will feel even more unsafe knowing that firearms are so much more accessible to all people in a school environment.

My little sister and little brother are in the 6th and 4th grades, respectively. The chances of a kid accidentally firing a misplaced firearm and killing them exponentially increase. The chances of my parents receiving the message that their children are wounded or dead as a result of an accidental firearm discharge exponentially increase. Legislators, I beg of you, please do everything in your power to minimize the number of heartbroken parents and traumatized children.