Get your gun: Idaho city allowing firearms at parades
COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho — City Council members here overturned a ban on guns at parades, an ordinance that originally targeted white supremacists who would march through the city.
State law allows firearms at parades, City Attorney Mike Gridley said.
"You would have someone have the expense of prosecution, and court saying the city doesn't have the right to do this," he said.
Earlier this year council members voted to keep the ban, which has been in effect for about 14 years when city leaders were worried about conflicts with groups such as the Aryan Nation that would march, holding guns, through this northwest Idaho city of almost 50,000 people.
Those who pushed to change the ordinance said it violates their right to bear arms, but Gridley said it's against an Idaho law passed in 2008 that bans cities from regulating firearms.
By the end of the week, firearms will be permitted at parades, he said.