Idaho’s Senate has passed Senate Bill 1389 and sent it on to Idaho’s House for consideration.  According to its Statement of Purpose, “The purpose of this bill is to make consistent state law regarding concealed weapons carry.  The bill provides for concealed carry consistency between counties and cities.”

OpenCdA hopes that this bill’s proponents and the Idaho Legislature have asked federal authorities such as the US Attorney for the District of Idaho and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) for their input on how Idaho’s proposed law change will interact with the federal law popularly known as the Gun Free School Zone Act (GFSZA) codified at 18 USC §§ 921 and 922.  Our concern is that in their haste and zeal, our legislators may not have fully explored the potential unintended consequences of SB 1389.

For example, a citizen holding a valid Idaho concealed weapons permit and carrying a concealed weapon can lawfully drive on a public street or walk on a public sidewalk within the 1000-foot school zone without violating the GFSZA.  Under Idaho’s proposed no-permit-required state law, it appears that same person who did not have a valid Idaho CWP could be in violation of the GFSZA.

Here is the ATF’s response to an inquiry submitted in 2013 by a private organization in Oklahoma.  (Oklahoma is in the Tenth Federal Judicial District whereas Idaho is in the Ninth.)

Here’s another question for consideration.  Idaho Code § 18-3302(5) exempts certain persons from requirement to secure a license to carry concealed weapons.  Those exempted include officials of a city, county or the state of Idaho and any publicly elected Idaho official.   Are these exemptions recognized by the federal government or are these officials who have been exempted under state law thereby liable under the federal GFSZA?

All we’re suggesting is that the bill’s proponents and Idaho’s legislators need to be certain that their proposed relaxation of Idaho’s concealed weapons permit laws do not, in fact, increase our citizens’ criminal liability under federal law.

KXLY reported yesterday that former Spokane police officer Karl Thompson has been released from federal prison.

In 2012 Thompson was sentenced to over four years in federal prison for violating the federal civil rights of Otto Zehm.

In 2006 Zehm had been arrested by Thompson and other officers based on erroneous and incomplete information provided to them by citizens and the police dispatcher.  Zehm was a mentally ill but functional janitor, and he had resisted Thompson’s effort to restrain him.  After being restrained, Zehm stopped breathing and was taken to the hospital where two days later, he died.

This Otto Zehm hyperlink above and this Spokesman-Review abbreviated timeline from 2011 provide a little more information about the death of Otto Zehm.

However, a more complete account is in the book ‘Frenzy and Cover Up — The Death of Otto Zehm‘.   The book was self-published in 2015 by its author, Andrew Gabriel Britt.  Britt is a 2012 honor graduate in Sociology from Eastern Washington University.

Britt’s book is a compendium of public records filings, news articles, and other documents.  It is well-researched and well-written.  Though not written in particularly colorful style typical of true crime writers such as Ann Rule, Vince Bugliosi, and Tim Reiterman, his book is nevertheless very readable.

It is available on loan through the Community Library Network – Kootenai-Shoshone Counties .

Although Amazon lists the book’s price as nearly $70 used, we paid $12.95 plus tax when special ordered new from The Bookworm at 1132 N. 4th Street in Coeur d’Alene.

Our OpenCdA post on March 27, 2014, was titled Calif. State Senator Arrested By FBI — Gunrunning, Honest Services Fraud.

Today the Los Angeles Times is running an article headlined Ex-state Sen. Leland Yee gets 5 years in prison in corruption case.  Website SFGate.com has more detail including more information about additional corrupt officials sentenced in its online article headlined Former state Sen. Leland Yee; ex-SF school board member sentenced.

The prosecution of this case shows that the FBI and the US Attorney in the Northern District of California takes public corruption cases very seriously — even when the corrupt officials are state and local rather than only federal.

Meanwhile, in the District of Idaho …

This February18,2016, CRS report entitled Encryption and Evolving Technology: Implications for U.S. Law Enforcement Investigations tries to help Congress better understand the challenges that encryption poses for law enforcement investigtions. 

This isn’t an easily solved dilemma.  For years the U.S. law enforcement and security community has been encouraging private industry to better safeguard proprietary and personnel information.  Well, the feds got their wish.  Apple took the message to heart and invented the better safeguard.

It would be very easy to side with Apple and simply declare that a company developing a unique and effective security product has no obligation to anyone to at the same time develop a way to defeat that product.

However, we think that even Apple might want to consider the possibility that another country’s government may have already found a way to do what Apple says can’t be done with the iPhone 5c.   Will Apple expect the FBI to investigate if that happens?

Suppose somebody kidnaps Apple CEO Tim Cook and during the ensuing investigation, the FBI learns  the suspect used an encrypted Apple device.  Now suppose that somehow the encrypted Apple device falls into the FBI’s hands, and recovering Cook alive may hinge on what’s encrypted in the device.  In that case, would Apple decide that its corporate principle is more important than its corporate principal?