Right to carry on campus bill passes state House, now faces opposition in Senate
South Dakota Gun Owners Email Alert Network
PO Box 3845 Rapid City, SD 57709
605.221.5766
February 6, 2008
Chalk up another victory for the right to self-defense.
Thanks to your numerous calls and emails, the right to carry on campus bill (HB 1261) sailed through the House of Representatives on Monday with an overwhelming majority.
The vote was 63-3. This nearly unanimous support for the right to bear arms is due largely to the grassroots action of gun owners like you.
HB 1261 now moves to the Senate, where it could face stiff opposition. It was assigned to the Senate State Affairs committee late yesterday afternoon. This will be the most challenging vote for HB 1261.
Action:
The Senate State Affairs committee could vote on HB 1261 anytime in the next week. Please contact the first four committee members listed below. If you want to do more, feel free to move down the list. It’s OK if these Senators are not from your district. As a committee, they represent the entire state.
Email: You can simply copy and paste the sample message below or feel free to compose your own message. Please email each legislator separately. You can send the same message to each one.
Phone: Call the Senate Lobby at (605) 773-3821 and leave a message. A legislative page will be there between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., Monday through Thursday, to take your call. Your message need be no more than “Please ask Senators (insert their last names) to vote YES on HB 1261.” You can leave messages for two Senators at a time.
Many will remember Sen. Gene Abdallah and his 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 now expressed support for HB 1261 and the right to carry on campus. If you communicate with Sen. Abdallah, please thank him for supporting HB 1261 and encourage him to continue supporting the right to arms.
Senate State Affairs Committee
Sen. Thomas Dempster - senatordempster@sio.midco.net
Sen. Bob Gray - sen.gray@state.sd.us
Sen. Gary Hanson - ghanson@sbtc.net
Sen. Scott Heidepriem - sen.heidepriem@state.sd.us
Sen. Gene Abdallah - sen.abdallah@state.sd.us
Sen. Dave Knudson - dknudson@dehs.com
Sen. Mac McCracken - sen.mccracken@state.sd.us
Sen. Ben Nesselhuf - sen.nesselhuf@state.sd.us
Sen. Ed Olson - sen.edolson@state.sd.us
---Sample message---
Dear Senator,
I strongly support HB 1261, which would recognize the right to self-defense on state college campuses.
The current patchwork of “gun free” policies on college campuses throughout South Dakota is simply appalling. “Gun free” zone signs don’t stop armed criminals. Turning colleges into “gun free” zones via school policy only invites another horrific massacre.
Experience has proven that “gun free” zones are far from gun free. In fact, virtually every major mass shooting in recent history has been committed in a so-called “gun free” zone. A “gun free” zone simply means that the law-abiding can’t defend themselves from armed criminals.
Why should a person have less freedom and safety than anyone else simply because he or she goes to college? If a person is responsible enough to cast a vote, fight a war, own a gun, carry a gun and exercise every other right of citizenship that every other adult citizen enjoys, then why should he or she be disarmed and defenseless at institutions of higher learning?
Sen. Dennis Schmidt has sponsored HB 1261 to recognize the right to self-defense on college campuses. If it is passed, HB 1261 will simply allow adults who can legally carry anywhere else in the state to carry on campus. Statistics clearly demonstrate that the right to carry is a strong deterrent to mass shootings. HB 1261 will help protect South Dakota colleges from a Virginia Tech-style massacre.
Please vote YES on HB 1261. South Dakota Gun Owners will keep me informed on how you vote.
Respectfully,
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Background:
Colleges all across South Dakota are banning guns. Even though state law doesn’t deal with firearms on campus, these state colleges have taken it on themselves to turn their campuses into “gun free” zones via school policy.
South Dakota Gun Owners has partnered with Rep. Tom Brunner and Sen. Dennis Schmidt to introduce House Bill 1261, which will remove this patchwork of “gun free” zones. HB 1261 recognizes the right to bear arms in self-defense on every state college campus in the state. If it is passed, HB 1261 will simply allow adults who can legally carry anywhere else in the state to carry on campus.
Statistics clearly demonstrate that the right to carry is a strong deterrent to mass shootings. HB 1261 will help protect South Dakota colleges from a Virginia Tech-style massacre.
For more on the “gun free” zones issue, click here.