Right to Carry on Campus bill fails to pass Senate by two votes --
Bill will likely be revived within the next two weeks
South Dakota Gun Owners Email Alert Network
PO Box 3845 Rapid City, SD 57709
605.221.5766
February 18, 2008
The Right to Carry on Campus bill (HB 1261) came within two votes of becoming law late last week.
Thanks to your strong grassroots support, the bill passed the state House nearly unanimously and garnered public support from the Governor. Your grassroots action also defeated an attempt to bury the issue in a Senate committee and forced a vote of the full Senate.
Win or lose, this is an outstanding victory. The Governor and every member of the state Legislature had to take a public position on this important right-to-carry issue. Gun owners now have the ammo they need to hold the politicians accountable in the fast-approaching elections. This in turn will give us the necessary political capital to defend and restore the right to arms in following years.
But this year’s battle to recognize the right to carry on college campuses is far from over.
The SDGO staff is currently working to bring the bill back up within the next two weeks. We’re working right now to collect the last two votes necessary for final passage and we will need your help.
Stay tuned.
Synopsis of HB 1261
The right to carry on campus bill was written by SDGO staff in late 2007. It was introduced as House Bill 1261 by Rep. Tom Brunner and Sen. Dennis Schmidt on January 22nd, 2008. The bill immediately received strong support from gun owners all across South Dakota.
On January 30th HB 1261 passed the House State Affairs committee 12 to 0. Committee members reported that they had received a flood of your calls and emails. The bill went on to pass the House 63 to 3 with overwhelming grassroots support. Widespread support also prompted Governor Rounds to announce his support for the right to carry on campus.
On February 5th HB 1261 was first read in the Senate, where SDGO predicted it would face stiff opposition. The bill was referred to the Senate State Affairs committee and the committee members were once again deluged with your calls and emails. But seven left-leaning Senators on the committee decided to ignore their numerous pro-gun constituents and listen instead to the anti-gun crowd in Pierre. They voted 7 to 1 against HB 1261, hoping to bury the bill in their committee.
Notably, the one committee vote in favor of HB 1261 came from Sen. Gene Abdallah (R-10). Many will remember Sen. Abdallah’s longstanding opposition to the right to bear arms. South Dakota Gun Owners mounted a hefty accountability campaign during the last election, aggressively publishing his anti-gun voting record to his constituents. Sen. Abdallah was forced to raise and spend four times more money to win re-election. Thanks to this grassroots pressure, Sen. Abdallah may be modifying his anti-gun position. He has consistently supported HB 1261 and the right to carry on campus.
After the Senate State Affairs committee voted to defeat HB 1261, SDGO worked closely with pro-gun Senators Ken McNenny (R-29) and Brock Greenfield (R-06) to “smoke-out” HB 1261. In this maneuver, at least twelve Senators must vote to bring HB 1261 to the floor, where it can then be voted on by the entire Senate body. With your grassroots support, the SDGO staff successfully lined up the votes to force a floor vote and 16 Senators supported the smoke-out.
The vote on whether the Senate would pass HB 1261 came on Friday, February 15th. Senators Jay Duenwald and Frank Kloucek strongly supported HB 1261, but both had to attend funerals on the 15th. Anti-gun Majority Leader Dave Knudson rushed to bring the bill up for a vote while they were absent and it failed 14 to 17 (see below).
Notably, Sen. Jean Hunhoff voted against HB 1261 in the smoke-out, but changed her vote because of constituent pressure and voted in favor of the bill in the final vote.
Sen. Arnie Hauge betrayed gun owners by doing the exact opposite. In response to numerous calls from his constituents, Sen. Hauge voted for HB 1261 in the smoke-out. But the very next day, he flip-flopped and voted against HB 1261 when it came up for its final vote. When his vote really counted, Sen. Hauge joined the anti-gun crowd and voted to kill HB 1261.
Final Senate Vote on HB 1261
Voting Pro-gun (in favor of HB 1261)
Voting Anti-gun (against HB 1261)
Excused (not present for vote)
Sen. Duenwald
Sen. Kloucek
Sen. Olson (Ed)
Sen. Two Bulls
Feel free to contact the Senators listed above and voice your thanks or disapproval according to their votes. Some of you may have experienced difficulty emailing Senators at their official addresses. To avoid this problem, simply click the name of each Senator to email him or her via web form.
Senators Gray, Turbak Berry, Hauge and Hunhoff are swing votes on this issue. Feel free to email them in support of HB 1261.