OPINION: The Open Primaries Initiative won’t cause gun control, warts or balding

Jim Jones

by JIM JONES/Guest Opinion
| August 21, 2024 1:00 AM

Political fearmonger Greg Pruett has been trying to scare voters away from the Open Primaries Initiative with the preposterous claim that it will bring gun control to Idaho. Pruett makes a living by frightening voters with fake threats to gun rights for the purpose of electing extremists to public office. It is also his personal meal ticket.

Pruett, who operates a variety of propaganda outlets (all of which have “donate” buttons), admits that the OPI is not a direct threat to gun rights. He claims it’s an indirect threat because it will “make Idaho more like California.” What Pruett is really concerned about is the fact that the OPI will break the stranglehold that his extremist allies have over who gets elected to public office. He is an integral part of an unsavory alliance — the extremist branch of the Republican Party, currently ruled by Dorothy Moon, and the Idaho Freedom Foundation, which is funded with out-of-state dark money — that has turned Idaho into a culture war battlefield.

The alliance supports extremist candidates and uses scorched-earth campaigns to defeat traditional, reasonable Republicans in the low-turnout closed GOP primary. Pruett’s job is to frighten voters into supporting extremist candidates by making false gun control claims against their opponents.

Gun owners should take Pruett’s outlandish claims with a large grain of salt. The Idaho Constitution contains a strong prohibition against gun controls. Article 1, Section 11, proclaims: “The people have the right to keep and bear arms, which right shall not be abridged.” That cannot be changed without a constitutional amendment, which would require a two-thirds vote of each House and then a majority of Idaho voters. That will never happen. Numerous gun protections are contained in our statute books, including a 2014 law that prohibited a wide range of gun restrictions. The vote was unanimous.

With every possible gun protection on the law books, it would be impossible to chip away at the gun rights of Idahoans. But that has not stopped Pruett from claiming the gun sky is falling and that he must have lots of money to stop it. He has been reduced to pushing for gun laws that most Idahoans don’t want — guns in schools, the right of gun-toting private militias to march around town and preventing local governments from keeping guns out of certain sensitive venues. Now, he is making the easily debunked claim that the OPI will cause gun control.

The fact is that Pruett has no use for initiatives. He has called for “abolishing the ballot initiatives in Idaho.” He opposed the 2018 Medicaid expansion initiative and the 2022 initiative to increase education spending. Pruett and his allies desperately want to kill the right of the people to enact their own laws. The closed GOP primary has produced non-responsive Legislatures that dwell on culture war distractions, while ignoring issues important to the people – schools, roads, property tax reform, water and the everyday nuts and bolts of running a government. The Pruett bunch thrives on discord.

Pruett contends that Idahoans must be armed to the teeth to fight off the many evils he sees in our state. He warns, among other alarming dangers, that the “forces of Satan have mobilized against the forces of God” and that “God-hating liberal activists now believe they can normalize pedophilia.” His answer is for people to arm themselves to the teeth and “defend liberty or die trying.” If you go to the gregpruett.com website, you can easily find his “donate” button, which will keep you alive in the apocalyptic battle.

Voters will likely see several Pruett front organizations during the fight over the OPI leading up to the November election. His Second Amendment Alliance, which has partnered with Ammon Bundy, has a “donate” button. So do his Keep Idaho Free site, which is concerned about Satan and guns; his extremist Idaho Dispatch publication; and his Freedom Bros podcast with his old IFF pal, Dustin Hurst. Lots of opportunities for the gullible to financially support Pruett’s pocketbook.

But voters can rest easy. There is absolutely no evidence to support the claim that the OPI will cause gun control. Neither will it cause warts or male pattern baldness. It will only cause good government in the Gem State.

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Jim Jones is a Vietnam combat veteran who served eight years as Idaho Attorney General and 12 years as a justice on the Idaho Supreme Court. He blogs at JJCommonTater.com.

LINKS:

Political hustler Greg Pruett:

https://idahoconservatives.com/idaho-politics/the-art-of-the-grift/

An indirect threat:

https://www.idahostatejournal.com/opinion/opinion-ranked-choice-voting-a-threat-to-idaho-gun-rights/article_fad5b6b8-2f6d-11ef-bb82-b7a2a8ec1a91.html

Scorched-earth campaigns:

https://idahoconservatives.com/idaho-politics/the-art-of-the-grift/

Article 1, Section 11:

https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idconst/ArtI/Sect11/

Require a two-thirds vote:

https://legislature.idaho.gov/statutesrules/idconst/ArtXX/Sect1/

Numerous gun protections: