Idaho guardsmen have been policing Washington, D.C. since February under Trump's executive order. The ACLU wants them home. The Pentagon says it won't know the cost until the mission ends. And a D.C. resident has filed a $3 million claim saying Idaho guardsmen injured her.
Idaho cut most state agencies 4% this year and 5% next year to absorb a $155 million hole created by matching Trump's federal tax cuts. In July, Brad Little pointed at the $250 million left over and said he won't be putting any of it back.
House Bill 752 took effect in Idaho on July 1. A first offense is a misdemeanor. A second one within five years is a felony. Gov. Brad Little signed it, along with a second law fining schools $100,000 for not reporting kids to their parents.
Little's safety claim rests on a police crime report that doesn't count most of the ways Idahoans die from guns. Idaho's gun death rate is 24% above the national average — and Little signed a law blocking federal gun safety rules days after a school shooting.