South Dakota Legislative Session starts today –
Anti-gunners introduce bill to ban self-defense on college campuses
South Dakota Gun Owners Email Alert Network
PO Box 3845 Rapid City, SD 57709
605.221.5766
January 8, 2008
The South Dakota Legislature convened today, and as someone once quipped, “No man’s life, liberty or property is safe when the legislature is in session.”
Multiple issues that could heavily impact your gun rights will be decided over the next two months. Now is when your voice really counts.
The anti-gun crowd has already introduced a bill to ban self-defense on college campuses. HB 1086 would turn every college campus in South Dakota into a so-called “gun free” zone, where the law-abiding can’t defend themselves from armed criminals.
“Gun free” zones actually help cause mass shootings. In fact, virtually every multiple victim shooting of any significant size in the United States has been committed in a “gun free” zone.
You’d think that HB 1086 sponsors would have learned their lesson after last year’s Virginia Tech Massacre. The entire campus is supposed to be a “gun free” zone, but that didn’t stop an armed killer from shooting 49 people there on April 16th, 2007.
Police arrived just 8 minutes after the shooting started. But thanks to the university gun ban that kept the victims from defending themselves, the police could do little more than carry out the dead and wounded. (See below for more on the dangers of “gun free” zones.)
HB 1086 endangers the lives of students, faculty and other law-abiding citizens in every corner of the state. Please join gun owners from all over South Dakota to stop this appalling denial of the right to self-defense.
Action:
The House Education Committee could vote on HB 1086 within 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 Representatives are not from your district. As a committee, they represent the entire state.
Rep. Mike Buckingham has already expressed opposition to HB 1086. If you contact him, please thank him for supporting gun rights and encourage him to continue.
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 House Lobby at (605) 773-3851 and leave a message. A legislative page will be there between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. to take your call. Your message need be no more than “Please ask Representatives (insert their last names) to vote NO on HB 1086.” You can leave messages for any two legislators at a time.
As always, courtesy is the best tactic.
House Education Committee
Rep. Jim Bradford - rep.bradford@state.sd.us
Rep. Mark DeVries - rep.devries@state.sd.us
Rep. Burt Elliott - rep.elliott@state.sd.us
Rep. Charlotte Gilson - cgremax@iw.net
Rep. Al Novstrup - alandkathy@thunderroad.info
Rep. Ryan Olson - ole@sbtc.net
Rep. Ed McLaughlin - rep.mclaughlin@state.sd.us
Rep. Mike Buckingham - rep.buckingham@state.sd.us
Rep. Tom Hackl - rep.hackl@state.sd.us
Rep. Phyllis Heineman - rep.heineman@state.sd.us
Rep. Thomas Hills - thills@spe.midco.net
Rep. Bill Thompson - rep.thompson@state.sd.us
Rep. Thomas Van Norman - rep.vannorman@state.sd.us
Rep. Keri Weems - kweems@sio.midco.net
Rep. Hal Wick - rep.wick@state.sd.us
---Sample message---
Dear Representative,
I strongly oppose HB 1086, which would outlaw bearing arms in self-defense on college campuses. By turning every campus in the state into a so-called “gun free” zone, this bill endangers the lives of thousands of students and faculty.
“Gun free” zones are hardly free from weapons. Shootings such as the Virginia Tech Massacre (where a “gun free” zone policy was already in place) prove that banning guns only puts innocent people at risk. In fact, virtually every multiple victim shooting of any significant size in the United States has been committed in a “gun free” zone.
HB 1086 will only keep the law-abiding from defending themselves while giving armed criminals a monopoly on force. Banning guns on college campuses is a surefire way to invite a tragedy like the Virginia Tech Massacre to South Dakota. It sends a clear message to those bent on mass carnage: “Here is a place where you can commit your atrocity unopposed!”
Please vote NO on HB 1086.
Respectfully,
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Background on “gun free” zones:
The tragic mass shootings committed in the last year clearly demonstrate the danger of so-called “gun free” zones.
In February of 2007 an armed killer walked past “gun free” zone signs on the door of the Trolley Square Mall in Utah and shot 9 innocent people.
In April, a student at Virginia Tech named Seung-Hui Cho shot 49 people in two separate incidents. The entire campus is one big “gun free” zone, but that didn’t stop Cho from making the Virginia Tech Massacre the deadliest shooting in American history.
In December, yet another armed killer walked into the “gun free” Westroads Mall in Omaha, Nebraska and shot 13 people. One witness says he would have been carrying a handgun that day if it had been legal, and could have ended the shooting after the first shot.
Just four days later, another heavily armed killer attacked the New Life Church in Colorado, intent on killing as many people as possible. But he picked the wrong place.
Because New Life Church is not a “gun free” zone, armed citizen Jeanne Assam was able to use her own handgun to stop the shooting. Authorities state that it could have been far worse than Virginia Tech if Assam had not been armed.
This is not the first time an armed citizen has stopped a mass shooting. In 2002, several students at the Appalachian School of Law in Virginia used their own handguns to subdue an armed killer as he shot faculty and students. In 1997, Joel Myrick used his handgun to stop a school shooting in Pearl, Mississippi, saving the lives of perhaps dozens of children.
In contrast, every mass shooting of any significant size in recent history has been committed in a “gun free” zone, where the law-abiding citizens were disarmed. In every case, the killer was the only one with a gun, and he had ample time to commit his atrocity before the police could arrive.
“Gun free” zones are just plain dangerous. Statistically, they actually contribute to the terrible mass shooting phenomenon. (For more information, click here.)
Passing a bill to ban guns on college campuses is a surefire way to invite a tragedy like the Virginia Tech Massacre to South Dakota. It sends a clear message to those bent on mass carnage: “Here is a place where you can commit your atrocity unopposed!”