The Senate has passed Sen. Todd Lakey’s “stand your ground” gun law on a 29-6 party-line vote, with all Senate Republicans voting in favor and all Senate Democrats voting against. “Idaho has some of the best self-defense laws in the country,” Lakey, R-Nampa, told the Senate. “These concepts have long been recognized and described in Idaho code, case law and jury instructions,” starting with a 1909 Idaho Supreme Court decision.

Lakey said his bill, SB 1313, takes all that case law, jury instruction and existing law and consolidates it into a single state code section. “It provides a better location for individuals to look and understand their rights of self defense in Idaho,” he said. “It also preserves and protects these principles so the courts continue to apply them.”

Sen. Grant Burgoyne, D-Boise, who like Lakey is an attorney, said he had no problem with writing the case law and jury instructions into statute, but he said the bill also changes the burden of proof. “My concern is immunizing people from having to explain their conduct in killing another human being,” Burgoyne said. “I do not think it is unreasonable when one shoots and kills another human being … to have to be called upon to utter the words, ‘I claim self defense, and here are the reasons.’”

Sen. Jim Rice, R-Caldwell, also an attorney told a story about a woman in his district who shot her abusive husband to death when he came after her to beat her, then pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter. “She got nine years probation and a withheld (judgment) for defending herself from someone violent under existing Idaho law,” he said. “To me, this bill is a good way to address all of the issues, including burden of proof.”

Sen. Cherie Buckner-Webb, D-Boise, called the bill unnecessary. “Idaho law currently recognizes one’s right to self-defense and it does not include a duty to retreat,” she told the Senate. “Let’s be clear: Stand your ground laws provide a basis for individuals to excuse or rationalize the death of another human being,” including in “volatile and tragic situations that could be averted by a call to law enforcement.”

Buckner-Webb said, “All of the states that have passed these laws have seen an increase in shootings. Stand your ground short-circuits the system, sidestepping law enforcement and the judicial system.”

Sen. Dan Foreman, R-Moscow, a retired police officer, said, “I think we have the best (law enforcement) in the country in Idaho, but we cannot get to you in time. … The police cannot get to you in time.”

Sen. Steve Vick, R-Dalton Gardens, said, “We’re not all legal experts.” He said his wife recently took a self-defense course, and the instructor told her Idaho doesn’t have a stand-your-ground law and that she had a duty to retreat. “Whether you’re the good guy or the bad guy, it’s important to know,” Vick said. “I think this is a good piece of legislation.”

SB 1313 now moves to the House side. It is co-sponsored by Rep. Judy Boyle, R-Midvale.