Gun owner profiling becomes reality
Backroom deal throws the door wide open to abuse of the pistol permit system
The anti-gun crowd has long wanted the ability to profile gun owners who carry concealed. In their view, anyone who wants to carry a gun for self-defense is suspect and should be treated as a threat.
But profiling gun owners requires an instantly accessible central registry, something that current state law does not allow.
That is about to change, however, thanks to a compromise brokered by Majority Leader Larry Rhoden (R-Meade County) and gun lobbyist David Conway. A bill to allow an instantly accessible pistol permit database (HB 1209) has been rammed through the state Legislature and will take effect on July 1st, 2005.
Permit holders are a “threat” to law officers
Any pistol permit system creates a government list of gun owners. This is one of the major problems with requiring citizens to obtain a government permit before exercising their constitutional right to bear arms. Up to this point, abuse of South Dakota’s permit system has been limited by the fact that the database is not instantly accessible.
But HB 1209 throws the door to abuse wide open. This bill repeals the current law against an instantly accessible pistol permit database and specifically gives police instant accessibility. Now that it has passed, you can be sure that access to the database will be subtly presented to our law-enforcement officers as a means of “protection” from folks who have a permit.
This is exactly how the database was promoted in 2001, when the anti-gunners first introduced a bill to create a new central registry. They claimed that officers need to know if a person has a permit, so that with “a heightened awareness” of the potential threat, they can take action to protect themselves. Sen. J.P. Duniphan, sponsor of the original database bill, put it this way, “I think any tool we can make to make our law enforcement officers safer, and yes, I hope they have a heightened awareness if they know a gun is in the car, because, potentially, their life may depend on it."
In other words, if you have a permit to carry a gun for self-defense, you are considered more likely to be dangerous than someone who doesn’t have a permit. 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.
In reality, concealed pistol permit holders are among the most law-abiding people in the state. Currently, there are approximately 43,000 permits. Of these, less than one half of one tenth of one percent have been revoked for any reason.
Database proponents also claim that they are only trying to help gun owners who might forget to carry their permit card. They insist that without the database, law-enforcement would be forced to detain and even lock up someone who forgets their card when carrying concealed. But 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 card within 24 hours, the petty offense charge must be dismissed. You can read the law at SDCL 22-14-9.1
Anti-gunners say they know what’s best for you
The pistol permit police-radio database is an anti-gun measure, pure and simple. That’s why the original database bill was soundly defeated in 2001 by a firestorm of opposition from SDGO members. In 2002, the anti-gunners’ further attempts to establish the database were stopped cold when SDGO led the charge to pass the law prohibiting an instantly accessible central registry.
But anti-gun politicians never give up. Having learned that they could not meet the opposition from gun owners head-on, they developed a misinformation campaign to confuse the issue and discredit opponents.
This new strategy was employed not only to pass the database bill, but the Schoenbeck gun ban as well (see p. 1). As these gun control bills moved through the House and Senate, Rep. Matt Michels, Speaker of the House, and Sen. Lee Schoenbeck, President Pro Tem of the Senate, emerged as the most visible leaders in this attempt to discredit and silence constituents who disagreed.
Anyone who opposed the Schoenbeck gun ban or the database was characterized as misinformed and lacking credibility. According to letters and emails from these two politicians, they know what’s best for you. To hear them tell it, the thousands of you who voiced concerns and opposition simply don’t know what you’re talking about.
“Pro-gun” politician sponsors anti-gun database bill
Along with this concerted effort to discredit and ignore citizens’ concerns, gun control proponents enlisted the help of two gun rights leaders who have shown themselves willing to compromise.
House Majority Leader Larry Rhoden claims to be strongly pro-gun, and has sponsored some good legislation. But this year, Rep. Rhoden and South Dakota Shooting Sports lobbyist David Conway worked hand in hand with notorious anti-gunners like Senators Gene Abdallah and JP Duniphan to pass their database bill.
In exchange, the anti-gunners agreed to “cautiously accept” HB 1190, another Conway/Rhoden bill to recognize out-of-state permits (see Legislative Watch), stipulating that they will be back next year with more gun control to “fix” the “problems” it will cause.
As a result of this backroom deal, Rep. Rhoden became the driving force behind the database bill in the House, while Sen. Abdallah was the prime sponsor in the Senate. For his part, Mr. Conway worked to convince pro-gun legislators that the anti-gun database bill was “good for gun owners and good for law-enforcement.”
Unfortunately, Conway also used his position with South Dakota Shooting Sports to obtain NRA endorsement for the bill. But anyone who reads the endorsement will wonder if NRA management actually read the bill. It appears that they too have been taken in by the misinformation campaign behind HB 1209.
Rhoden, Michels, Schoenbeck, Abdallah and Conway all supported their anti-gun positions with classical doublespeak, claiming that the database bill would actually benefit gun owners by increasing their “privacy and confidentiality.” Valid concerns that HB 1209 opens the door to abuse of the system were brushed aside with false claims about built-in “safeguards.”
But a careful reading of these so-called “safeguards” exposes them to be nothing more than smoke and mirrors. They are cleverly worded, but provide NO protection against abuse. (Click here for a complete analysis of the central registry bill.)
Conway/Rhoden compromise advances gun control
In their willingness to compromise, Rep. Rhoden and Mr. Conway have played right into the hands of the anti-gun crowd. HB 1209 facilitates the profiling of gun owners and provides all that is necessary for the future harassment of anyone who has a pistol permit.
This “one step forward and two steps back” strategy is obviously a move in the wrong direction. Where is our right to bear arms when gun owners can be profiled and treated as dangerous suspects simply because they have a pistol permit?
Instead of more government intrusiveness, which does nothing to prevent crime or protect police, we should be moving toward Vermont-style concealed carry, where citizens can legally carry without obtaining a government permit.
That’s exactly what South Dakota Gun Owners aimed to do last year with our Right to Arms in Vehicles bill, which Mr. Conway and Rep. Rhoden worked to kill.
Now, thanks to Representatives Rhoden and Michels and Senators Schoenbeck and Abdallah, the anti-gun pistol permit police-radio database has been forced on South Dakota, despite thousands of petitions, emails and phone calls from constituents on this issue alone.
This blatant failure to represent the people of South Dakota must not be forgotten at election time.