By Amy Bentley
Research Director
“FOR YOUR SAFETY…WEAPONS NOT ALLOWED!”
These words are plastered on multiple signs across the front of the 10,000 seat
Rapid City Civic Center Arena.
They proclaim an outright ban on carrying a handgun for self-defense in the city-owned facility.
According to the signs, a detailed written policy is available at the Civic
Center office. But when South Dakota Gun Owners requested a copy, they were
given the Civic Center policy prohibiting bottles and Frisbees! While the signs
outside the Arena do ban Frisbees and other items, no one was able to explain
why they include legally owned handguns.
State law prohibits municipalities from passing any ordinance which restricts
bearing arms. But such facts have never bothered anti-gun bureaucrats. This gun
ban was apparently imposed on city property by mere whim, creating a so-called
“gun free zone” without law or ordinance.
The Lie of the “Gun-free Zone”
“Gun-free zones” are just plain dangerous. Far from being gun-free, they disarm
only the law-abiding while giving armed criminals free rein to commit their
atrocities. In reality, so-called “gun free zones” are no more than safety zones
for violent thugs.
The recent rash of horrific school shootings make this all too clear.
A “gun free zone” sign couldn’t stop Charles Carl Roberts from entering an Amish
one-room school with two guns and taking ten little girls hostage. Before his
insanity ran its course he had shot three girls to death, left two fatally
wounded and five more in critical condition. The schoolroom was splattered with
blood and glass. Bullet holes were everywhere.
School metal detectors weren’t enough to stop Jeff Weise, either. A student from
Red Lake, Minnesota, Weise brought three guns into his school to continue a
rampage he’d begun that morning by murdering his grandfather. Police were on the
scene in less than ten minutes, but by then he had gunned down an unarmed
security guard, five students and a teacher. After firing at police, Weise
killed himself.
The only school shootings that have been stopped midcourse were stopped because
law-abiding citizens had guns -- such as in Pearl, Mississippi (1997) and at the
Appalachian School of Law (2002), where faculty and responsible adults were able
to bring their own defensive firearms to bear.
Banning guns in school zones has failed. Putting a “gun free zone” sign in front
of any building only emboldens criminals who love disarmed victims.
In 1983, South Dakota passed a law to prohibit cities from creating an
entangling web of “criminal safety zones.” This state law preempts city
ordinances which restrict possession or ownership of firearms (SDCL 9-19-20).
But anti-gun bureaucrats are ignoring the law, and are becoming increasingly
active across the state. In Rapid City they have created a gun ban out of thin
air. In Sioux Falls they are making a complete end run around state law,
disarming law-abiding citizens across the board.
Sioux Falls Bans Self-Defense on All City Property
Joe Mergerle has learned just how dangerous a walk in the park can become.
Mergerle was enjoying an early morning stroll when he was confronted by a
pistol-wielding thug who demanded money. Police believe Mergerle’s life would
probably have ended there, except for one simple fact: Joe Mergerle was armed.
When the would-be mugger threatened to shoot, Mergerle drew his own self-defense
handgun and opened fire. The wounded thug was later apprehended and faced
attempted theft and murder charges.
Ella Brooks discovered that a routine trip to work can be equally life
threatening. Brooks was taking the transit bus to her job when another passenger
boarded but refused to pay his fare. The crazed criminal then brandished a knife
and held it to the throat of an innocent bystander, threatening to kill him.
That’s when Brooks pulled her .45 and ordered the thug to drop his weapon. When
he refused, she shot him before he could injure his intended victim. Police said
Brooks’ actions were justified.
Neither of these incidents happened in South Dakota. But if Ella Brooks or Joe
Mergerle had faced assailants in the city of Sioux Falls, they might not have
survived to tell about it.
Sioux Falls has issued an executive order banning all guns on city property,
including the city-owned transit system. This ban has stripped tens of thousands
of law-abiding citizens of their right to self-defense. Regardless of whether
you possess a concealed carry permit, Sioux Falls says you cannot carry a
handgun to defend yourself.
“It Can’t Happen Here”
17-year-old Dante McMillain learned the hard way what happens when a city bans
guns. McMillain and 20 other passengers were riding a Durham, NC transit bus on
what seemed a normal Saturday afternoon.
Suddenly an argument erupted at the back of the bus. A man drew a handgun and
opened fire. McMillain was struck multiple times. Because the city of Durham had
banned firearms on city buses, there was no one to respond to the gunman and
stop the shooting. McMillain survived, but only after emergency surgery and
months of recuperation.
Some might argue that this would never happen in South Dakota.
Try telling that to the man who faced an armed assailant with nothing but his
pocket knife on a city transit bus in Sturgis, South Dakota, just this summer.
Or talk to the unarmed people who were wounded last year by a knife wielding
criminal on a bus just outside Sioux Falls. The fact is, South Dakota is not
exempt from violent crime.
Sioux Falls lawyers and bureaucrats claim their gun ban protects city employees.
In reality, it not only endangers the lives of residents and visitors, but city
employees as well. It is against the state preemption laws which prohibit city
ordinances restricting firearms, and it is a complete denial of Article VI,
Section 24 of the South Dakota Constitution: “The right of the citizens to bear
arms in defense of themselves and the state shall not be denied.”
Sioux Falls has unilaterally banned firearms on city property by executive
order. When an SDGO member confronted Sioux Falls city attorney Karen Leonard
with the state’s preemption laws, she responded, “The City stands behind the
Executive Order.” In other words, they don’t care what state law says. They want
to ban guns, and they are going to do it, legal or no.
Not Just in the Big Town
It might be easy to imagine that Sioux Falls’ absurd gun ban belongs only to the
larger cities. Surely it could never take place in small town South Dakota! The
frightening thing is that it is taking place already. From Spearfish and Hot
Springs to Vermillion and Brookings, illegal city gun bans have been passed and
are currently on the city code books.
Even in smaller towns like Redfield and White, carrying or discharging a handgun
in self-defense is outlawed regardless of whether you have a permit.
Under South Dakota preemption laws, these anti-gun city ordinances are null and
void. But city officials on both sides of the state are choosing to enforce
their illegal policies anyway. They are supported by tax dollars and have
nothing to lose.
If you were ever forced to defend yourself with a firearm in these towns, you
could face jail, court and the confiscation of your firearm. The fact that you
may eventually be acquitted is small comfort after you’ve been arrested, paid
thousands in court costs and lost your gun besides.
Remember New Orleans
Patricia Konie thought it would never happen to her. This elderly New Orleans
woman weathered Hurricane Katrina at home. The flood waters never reached her.
But the police did.
Konie had plenty of food, water, and a means of self-defense. She knew she could
make it all right. Then the police knocked on her door. They asked to see her
gun, and when she cooperated and showed it to them in a non-threatening manner,
they body-slammed her against the wall. Her gun was confiscated. She was injured
and forcibly dragged from her home.
Looters and thugs weren’t listening when New Orleans Police Commissioner Eddy
Compass proclaimed, “Only law enforcement are allowed to have weapons.” Armed
gangs were busy roaming the streets, looting and raping, while police were busy
confiscating all means of defense from the law-abiding. Hundreds of citizens
lost every firearm they owned.
For those who said it could never happen in America, New Orleans was a rude
awakening. Louisiana state law clearly did not allow any city to seize firearms.
But that didn’t stop bureaucrats like Commissioner Compass, who ignored the law
and instituted a city-wide gun ban just when its citizens needed their firearms
most.
Even before Hurricane Katrina, South Dakota Gun Owners was working to ensure
that South Dakota law did not allow firearms confiscation during an emergency.
In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, South Dakota bureaucrats and
politicians called for sweeping changes to the emergency powers laws. This
dramatic increase in governmental power posed a serious threat to the right to
arms.
South Dakota Gun Owners was the only gun rights group to oppose this power grab,
as SDGO members from all over the state created a firestorm of protest. Thanks
to this outcry, “emergency” firearms confiscation is no longer legal in South
Dakota.
Bold Action the Price of Freedom
But state laws only work when they are enforced. Right now, bureaucrats in Rapid
City and Sioux Falls are ignoring the law and imposing complete gun bans. If
they can get away it, other towns all across the state are poised to follow
suite. The drama that unfolded in New Orleans is a grim reminder of what can
happen when bureaucrats and politicians are allowed to ignore the law.
Liberty will endure only so long as citizens remain willing to hold their
government accountable. Gun owners must make sure that what happened in New
Orleans will never happen here. South Dakota Gun Owners is already working to
end the arrogant gun bans imposed in both Rapid City and Sioux Falls, and to
make sure that other illegal anti-gun city ordinances are struck down. Stay
tuned.