Election Results:
Gun owners make gains and face
new challenges
By Zach Lautenschlager
Communications Director
The transformation of Congress in this year’s elections will have a major impact
on the gun rights battle over the next two years.
The newly won Democratic majority in both the US House and Senate has placed
well-known anti-gunners like Chuck Schumer and Ted Kennedy in some of the most
powerful leadership positions in America.
When the new Democrat Congress is seated next month, gun owners will be facing
the most serious assault in a decade.
Resurrecting the Clinton Semi-auto Ban…and More
Rabid gun banner Sarah Brady is licking her political chops.
Her Democratic allies have been the minority in Congress for more than 10 years.
While they have made a few minor advances, they have been unable to move forward
any major anti-gun issue.
But now that the Democrats own the committee leadership positions in both House
and Senate, they will decide the agenda. And that agenda includes a heavy dose
of new gun control, including resurrecting and expanding the Clinton Semi-auto
Ban, shutting down gun shows, banning broad categories of hunting ammo and
expanding the Brady database into a new central registry for thousands more gun
owners.
Since the November elections, South Dakota Gun Owners has been working to gather
resources and mobilize gun owners against this new threat. Much has already been
gained, and SDGO will continue working to keep its members and supporters
involved and up to date.
Thankfully, the news on the state level is far brighter. During this election
cycle, SDGO members and gun owners from across the state defeated three
notorious anti-gun legislators, handed difficult races to two more anti-gunners
and elected a solid gun rights advocate to the state Senate.
Gun Owners Elect Pro-Gun Leader in South Dakota
Pundits told Dennis Schmidt that he would never be able to oust left-leaning
state Senator JP Duniphan (R-Rapid City). She had been the incumbent for nearly
ten years and had formed multiple powerful alliances. Duniphan was deeply
entrenched.
But JP Duniphan had also proven herself one of the most anti-gun politicians in
the state. She had sponsored and voted for two different bills to register and
profile gun owners, and two versions of the hated Lautenberg gun ban, as well as
legislation to make it harder to get a pistol permit. In fact, Sen. Duniphan had
supported every anti-gun bill to be introduced in South Dakota since 2001. Her
anti-gun track record was undeniable.
In contrast, Dennis Schmidt scored 100% pro-gun on SDGO’s Legislative candidate
survey. Schmidt has pledged to support strong pro-gun legislation including a
real Right to Carry bill.
In the weeks leading up to the Primary Election, SDGO launched a hefty
accountability campaign to expose Duniphan’s long-standing anti-gun record.
Staff and volunteers worked overtime making hundreds upon hundreds of phone
calls and sending out thousands of mail pieces.
Thanks in no small part to this effort, Schmidt soundly defeated Duniphan, 61
percent to 39 percent.
But this was only the first step. Schmidt now faced the General Election and
Democratic candidate Dennis Finch. Finch had scored an “F” on SDGO’s survey for
failing to respond. All candidates had been informed that failure to answer any
question would be graded as an anti-gun answer.
Once again, SDGO mailed thousands of cards detailing Schmidt’s pro-gun stance,
as well as Finch’s opposition to the right to arms. Armed with this information,
pro-gun voters helped elect Schmidt and defeat Finch, 55 percent to 45 percent.
Anti-gun Politicians Chastised
But JP Duniphan and Dennis Finch weren’t the only candidates who discovered that
gun control is a losing issue.
Notoriously anti-gun Sen. Stan Adelstein (R-Rapid City) lost to pro-gun
candidate Elli Schwiesow, and long-standing anti-gunner Rep. Tom Hennies
(R-Rapid City) was defeated by a wide margin.
Gun owners also handed notorious anti-gun Senator Gene Abdallah (R-Sioux Falls)
one of the toughest races he’s ever faced. Besides Duniphan, Sen. Abdallah is
the only other politician who has supported every piece of gun control
introduced since 2001. He is one of the few legislators in the state to earn an
“F” rating from the NRA.
SDGO staff and volunteers worked in Sen. Abdallah’s district to inform gun
owners of his long-standing anti-gun record. In past years, Abdallah has either
run unopposed or won by a wide margin. But this year, that margin was
significantly narrowed, thanks in large part to SDGO’s accountability campaign.
Though Abdallah kept his Senate seat for now, he was forced to raise and spend
more than 4 times as much money to do it.
Gun owners also chastised double-crossing state Representative Dale Hargens
(D-Miller). In 2002, Rep. Hargens pledged to support gun owners and oppose new
anti-gun restrictions.
Since then, he has sponsored and voted for anti-gun measures like new pistol
permit restrictions, the hated Lautenberg gun ban and an anti-gun central
registry. And after promising to support the Right to Carry in self-defense,
Hargens lead his party to vote against significant right to self-defense
legislation. Worst of all, after sponsoring a Vermont-style Right to Carry bill,
he flip-flopped and helped the anti-gunners kill it.
SDGO worked to inform gun owners in Hargens’ district with thousands of
postcards and phone calls. As the returns started coming in on election night,
Hargens quickly fell behind and stayed there for much of the evening. Then he
finally eked out a scanty lead and won by 3 percentage points.
Both Sen. Abdallah’s and Rep. Hargens’ races prove an important point:
supporting gun control doesn’t pay. You can be sure that this lesson has not
been lost on the rest of the state Legislature.