South Dakota Gun Owners
celebrates
20 years of no-compromise
By Ray Lautenschlager
Executive Director
Gun owners are some of the finest folks in South Dakota. United, they are also
one of the most powerful forces in politics. Over the past 20 years, they have
formed the backbone of SDGO’s work to defend the right to arms.
South Dakota Gun Owners began in 1988 as a small group of concerned citizens in
the Rapid City area. Since then, the organization has grown to more than 3500
gun owners state-wide who have achieved an impressive list of victories.
One of their earliest efforts was to require local law-enforcement to recognize
the “shall issue” provision of the pistol permit law.
Throughout the 1990s, the membership worked on numerous state gun rights issues.
They opposed legislation which stripped 17-year-olds of the right to
self-defense, used the state’s preemption laws to stop city-level gun control
and defeated a bill to raise the age limit to 21 for concealed carry. SDGO was
also involved in the efforts to pass concealed carry reciprocity from the late
‘90s until the bill was finally passed in 2002. The organization’s no-compromise
stand and strong membership defeated attempts to attach a laundry list of gun
control demands to the bill.
In 2001, SDGO members defeated a bill to create a new central registry for gun
owners similar to the Sex Offender Registry. SDGO raised a firestorm of protest
against the database, forcing even the bill’s sponsor to vote against her own
legislation. SDGO also soundly defeated a state-level version of the hated
federal Lautenberg gun ban in 2001.
In 2002, SDGO derailed an attempt to bureaucratically set up another central
registry for gun owners.
In 2003, legislation was introduced that would have increased the price of the
pistol permit and created a backdoor method of bureaucratically imposing more
permit restrictions in the future. Once again, SDGO members soundly defeated the
bill through grassroots action. SDGO also battled against emergency powers laws
that allowed firearms confiscation.
In 2004, SDGO’s continuing work against “emergency” firearms confiscation paid
off when a bill was passed which absolutely prohibited the seizure of legal
firearms. The need for this South Dakota legislation was demonstrated just one
year later when New Orleans officials used emergency powers laws to seize
firearms in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. SDGO members were also involved in
ending the federal Clinton Semi-auto Ban in September of 2004.
In 2005, SDGO members helped to pass state legislation recognizing out-of-state
pistol permits. They also worked throughout the year with other no-compromise
gun owners from across America to defeat new federal gun control, including bans
on semi-autos and .50 caliber rifles.
In 2006, SDGO helped to open the state parks to concealed carry and to pass
legislation which prohibited the liberal media from publishing the names of
concealed pistol permit holders as if they were some kind of criminals. SDGO
members also made the difference in the battle for the Right to Self-Defense
bill in 2006. It had passed the House but was stalled in the Senate until SDGO
members and supporters flooded the Capitol with phone calls and emails. The bill
went on to pass by a strong margin.
2006 was also a pivotal election year. SDGO launched hefty accountability
campaigns against several notorious anti-gun politicians in South Dakota,
publishing their voting records with thousands of mail pieces, flyers and phone
calls. Gun owners defeated three anti-gun politicians and elected strong gun
rights leader Dennis Schmidt to the Senate.
Because of the political capital built in the ’06 elections, not one anti-gun
bill was introduced in 2007.
2008 has already proved crucial for gun rights in South Dakota, as SDGO has lead
the fight for the Right to Carry on Campus bill (see p. 2) and helped gun owners
win solid gains in the Primary Elections earlier this month (see p. 1).
The Board of Directors and the staff of South Dakota Gun Owners congratulate the
membership for their outstanding accomplishments over the last 20 years.