Ben Adams

This is not the first time Adams has supported the rhetoric of killing. He’s used it himself. Adams was prominent for two things last session, his first in the Legislature. The first was advancing a bill, admirable in intent if legally flawed, to require a formal declaration of war from Congress before Idaho National Guard troops would be deployed overseas.

The second was a fiery speech that seemed to come out of left field as the Legislature reconvened, following a recess due to COVID-19 spread in the Capitol. Adams invoked the prospect of war at home.

Adams served in the House from 2020 to 2022 and is finishing his first Senate term. He sponsored a bill this year to make synonymous the legal definitions of “gender” and “sex,” as well as one prohibiting the use of public funds for gender transition procedures. Both became law.

“Congress routinely now authorizes the president’s use of military force by means other than a declaration of war, and that a governor cannot object,” bill sponsor Sen. Ben Adams, R-Nampa, who served in the Marine Corps, told the Senate. “Not only does this fly in the face of the state’s authority over its own militia, but it is this routine abdication of congressional authority that highlights the necessity of this legislation.”

Sen. Ben Adams, R-Nampa, sponsored SB 1100, and said he felt the civil cause of action was needed because it is “empowering the citizens.”