Longtime councilman responds to Second Amendment group's claims

COEUR d'ALENE — Ownership of guns and allegiance to the Second Amendment stepped front and center in Ron Edinger's quest to remain a fixture on Coeur d'Alene's city council.

"I'm the owner of three firearms," Edinger said in a statement released late Wednesday to the media. "My family — including my children, grandchildren and brothers — for many years have been ardent outdoorsman that have used guns to hunt wild game as well as using firearms for sports and protection."

Strange words for a press release in a city council race. But Edinger was responding to information being spread by the Idaho Second Amendment Alliance.

On Tuesday, the Alliance wrote on Facebook that Edinger made it clear "he does NOT support the right of Coeur d'Alene citizens to exercise their 2nd Amendment rights. He twice voted against amending a city ordinance that banned firearms during (parades) and gatherings within the city."

The Alliance also said Edinger's challenger in the race, Toby Schindelbeck, answered the group's Second Amendment survey and received a 100 percent score.

The ordinance, adopted in the 1990s, banned weapons at parades and festivals within the city. It was enacted following conflicts between marchers and spectators at parades, like those the Aryan Nations conducted in the past. The city later overturned the ban.

Edinger said in his response to the Alliance that the ordinance wasn't about gun control. It was a reaction to the Aryan Nations' volatile parades.

"It was an extremely dangerous criminal group that had a history of numerous felonies, including murder, bank robberies, counterfeiting money and bombings — a real danger to our community as they marched in our city," Edinger said.