New central registry for gun owners to be voted on tomorrow
South Dakota Gun Owners E-mail
Alert
PO Box 3845, Rapid City, SD 57709
(605) 737-5583
LibertyTeeth@sdgo.org
http://www.SDGO.org
(February 6, 2005) – The new pistol permit police-radio database bill (HB 1209) is scheduled for its first committee hearing and vote on Monday, February 7th. If it passes, it will go to the House for a floor vote.
Under the guise of protecting gun owners, HB 1209 repeals the current state law prohibiting a pistol permit police-radio database and specifically allows law-enforcement to establish one.
Once such a database has been established, it will almost certainly be presented to our law-enforcement officers as a means of protection from folks who have a permit.
Used in this way, the permit information would mislead our officers by suggesting that if you have a pistol permit, you are a threat.
Bottom line, this database tells our officers that permit holders, as a class, constitute a special threat and need to be treated differently than the general population.
Action:
Please email the members of the House State Affairs committee listed below. Your message can be as simple as “Please oppose HB 1209. The pistol permit police-radio database that it would allow will not benefit either gun owners or law-enforcement.”
Rep. Larry Rhoden --- District 29
Rep. Joel Dykstra --- District 16
Rep. Margaret Gillespie --- District 16
Rep. Thomas Deadrick --- District 21
Rep. Larry Frost --- District 3
Rep. Cooper Garnos --- District 26
Rep. Pat Haley --- District 22
Rep. Dale Hargens --- District 22
Rep. Elizabeth Kraus --- District 34
Rep. Matthew Michels --- District 18
Rep. Kathy Miles --- District 15
Rep. Sean O'Brien --- District 7
Rep. Tim Rave --- District 24
The anti-gun crowd is pushing the database with the straw-man argument that this new central registry is necessary in order to verify the validity of the pistol permit. They claim that they are only trying to help gun owners who might forget to carry their permit card.
HB 1209 supporters are trying to tell us that current state law somehow requires law-enforcement to detain and even lock up someone who forgets their permit card. This is simply not true. It is a petty offense if you forget your permit. The officer can only detain you long enough to write a ticket. Furthermore, the law provides that if you produce the permit within 24 hours, the petty offense charge must be dismissed. You can read the law at SDCL 22-14-9.1
Some database proponents are attempting to surround the issue with smoke and mirrors. They claim that the new amendments they plan to add in tomorrow’s hearing will completely secure the database against abuse. However, these amendments are simply inadequate to effectively prevent misuse of the permit information. The very existence of such a database leaves the door open to abuse.
For more information on the database issue, click here.
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Tomorrow’s committee hearing will also include two pro-gun bills.
HB 1189 would clarify who must enforce the unconstitutional law requiring a waiting period for buying a handgun. Currently, the law prohibits all “sellers” from delivering a handgun to buyers before the two-day waiting period is up. HB 1189 would change “seller” to “federal firearms licensee,” thus clarifying that private sales are exempt.
HB 1190 brings a more substantial change. This bill would recognize the concealed pistol permit of any state in which “the terms of issuance comply with any appropriate South Dakota statute or promulgated rule.” Art. IV sec. 1 of the US Constitution requires each state to give full faith and credit to the laws of every other state. South Dakota’s current system of concealed carry reciprocity does not comply with this Constitutional mandate because it only allows South Dakota to recognize the permits of states which recognize ours. HB 1190 opens the door for limited recognition. While it is not full recognition in the sense that it does not recognize the excellent carry laws of states like Vermont and Alaska, it is an step in that direction.
Both these bill have a good chance of passing this first committee. Please feel free to contact the members listed above and encourage them to vote in favor of HB 1189 and HB 1190.
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